In August, this year, I watched this 20-year-old movie, for the first time. I had long been curious about it. That curiosity partly came from a glowing review that a fellow student gave it, back in 2001/2002, in art school. The rest of it, maybe came from film magazines and articles on the Internet.
For a long time I had it in my head that it had been directed by Wolfgang Petersen ('Das Boot', 'Enemy Mine'); perhaps because of the word 'Enemy', in the titles 'Enemy Mine' and 'Enemy at the Gates'.
It was, instead, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, and co-written by Annaud and Alain Godard.
No one puts on an accent. There are English and American actors playing either Russian or German officers, and it somehow works. Bob Hoskins is impressively intense and intimidating, as Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Jude Law is quite likeable as the legendary Russian sniper, Vasily Zaitsev. Rachel Weisz is endearing as Tania Chernova, Zaitsev's love interest. Ed Harris is quietly effective as German sniper, Erwin Konig, who's sent to Stalingrad to kill Zaitsev. Joseph Fiennes' Russian commissar, Danilov, seems to be in Zaitsev's shadow, from the first moment we meet him, up to the moment that he sacrifices himself, and is killed by Konig's sniper bullet. Ron Perlman's Russian sniper, has an annoying sarcasm.
'Enemy at the Gates' vaguely reminds me of Spielberg's 'Saving Private Ryan' (1997), even though the carnage at the beginning of Annaud's film, seems like a walk in the park when compared to the jarring beach landing sequences in Spielberg's film. I guess it's mainly because both are World War 2 films that focus on infantrymen (and women). I was pleased to discover that there was a real Vasily Zaitsev, and that his rifle is on display in a “Stalingrad battle” museum, where everyone can see it. I was surprised to see women fighting alongside men, on the front lines, in this movie. It turns out it actually happened.
Annaud does not hold back in depicting sexual intimacy, as clearly shown by his 'La'Amant/The Lover' (1992). There's a moment of physical intimacy between the lovers, Vasily and Tania, that takes place in rather restricted conditions (they are in crammed quarters, surrounded by sleeping soldiers, and have to make certain they're neither seen nor heard), yet it has a searing intensity. I can't help but wonder whether it was Weisz's exposed body that we saw in that love scene with Law, or a body double's.
This movie has a magnificent score by the late James Horner. But the one theme that, to me, stands head and shoulders above the rest, is the one called 'Tania'. It's the one piece of music that sort of defines 'Enemy at the Gates', for me. It captures Vasily and Tania's romance, beautifully. That theme, the endearing performances of Law and Weisz, and the strong chemistry between the two, are mainly why I'll be revisiting 'Enemy at the Gates' for years to come.
