Title/Year: Enemy At The Gates (2001)
Director/Birth Country/Year Born: Jean-Jacques Annaud – France - 1943
Budget: $68 Million
Gross: $96,976,270
Synopsis: During the WWII battle of Stalingrad, two snipers, a Russian, and a German, are locked in a battle of wills and marksmanship, while the Russian is boosted to the status of hero by a political official
Narrative and Visual Keywords: World War II, Stalingrad, Sniper, Politics, Hero, Nazi, Action, Thriller, Russia, Stalin, Drama, Monochromatic
Characterization/ Dialogue:
Camera/lighting/editing technique: The film is very gray and bleak throughout. There is a very “gritty” feel. In my opinion, this is to give the audience a sense of the terrain and environment a sniper will sit in, for days at a time, waiting for the most opportune moment to fire upon his target. The battle of Stalingrad was one of WWII’s most brutal and bloody battles. Most of this battle sequence was shot handheld. Very little fluid camera movements, if any at all.
Political/ Social Commentary: One of the tag lines for this film was “A single bullet can change history.” The fate of Stalingrad rested on the shoulders of one sniper, Vassili Zaitsev, played by Jude Law.
Historical Relevance/ Recognition: Set during the bloody and brutal battle of Stalingrad, also based on the true events of a Russian sniper, Vassili Zaitsev, who was lifted up to be the hero of Russia. Supposedly single handedly took out dozens of Nazi officers during his reign as this hero. According to the film, there is an exhibit about Vassili in the Russian WWII museum.
Notable Collaboration: It is rumored that Jude Law and Ed Harris were cast largely due to their expressive and piercing eyes. They were able to convey many emotions with only their eyes.
Random fact, Etc.: This story was a passion project for THE Sergei Eisenstein.
Are there any evident elements of an evolving group dynamic?
There is somewhat of a small group dynamic in this story. Maybe not so much in the traditional sense as in The Thin Red Line, but there is an element where the characters have to work together and rely on each other to move toward a common goal. Vassili (Law) meets Commisar Danilov (Fiennes), a political officer, and shows extreme skill with a rifle, saving both of their lives. Danilov is impressed and moved by Vassili’s heroics and decides to write something about his new hero. Soon, Danilov and Vassili share a symbiotic relationship, each feeding off of each other. Danilov creates Russia’s greatest hero in Vassili and is commended. Vassili finds his calling in the Soviet Army and proudly, but cautiously, is motivated to drive the Germans out of Russia.
Other characters come into play, such as a young boy named Sacha, who becomes an informant for both his hero Vassili and the number one German sniper Major Konig (Harris). Other brave Russian souls come forth to try their hand at being a sniper and become heroes themselves, even working alongside Vassili himself.
Are there any scenes where self-sacrifice is apparent?
SPOILER ALERT: After a deadly game of hide-n-seek and cat-and-mouse through-out the film, Vassili and Major Konig finally have their standoff, each one outsmarting the other. Danilov and Vassili have been in a conflict of the heart regarding a shared love interest in Tania Chernova (Rachel Weisz). Danilov knows his love is not reciprocated by Tania.
The boy, Sacha, is killed and hung for all to see, by Major Konig, as a way of luring Vassili out in the open. Vassili is enraged and now has a personal vendetta with Konig. He sends Danilov and Tania to get Sacha’s mother to the evacuation boats. Mortars are dropped near the boat landings which result in Tania receiving shrapnel and Danilov mistaking her death.
Danilov is at a loss. He knows Vassili awaits Konig in an attempt to ambush Konig. Danilov sacrifices himself. Konig mistakes this target to be Vassili and fires, killing Danilov, but also reveals his own position to Vassili. Vassili relocates as Konig moves to check his kill, realizing his mistake he turns to find Vassili behind him with rifle aimed at his skull.
Identify the central character(s). Which are static and which are developing? Which are flat and which are round?
Our hero, Vassili, is the central character. The film opens in the mountains where we see a young Vassili being taught how to handle a rifle by his grandfather. Throughout the film he struggles with himself and the pressure Danilov has built by making him the “hero” of Russia.
Many of the static characters are also the “expendable” characters, literally. The static characters we meet are other Russian snipers that join in Vassili’s cause. Through Vassili’s adventures hunting the German, many of these static characters end up being killed in action by the main antagonist, Konig. As a matter of fact, now that I write this, Konig himself is somewhat static. He does not really change or have a defined arc in this film. He does grow to respect his Russian enemy, Vassili, but that is where the arc ends. In the end, he too is expendable. He is the enemy. His goal is clear and predictable, as is the character.
With regard to some of the characters that are round or flat, Vassili is our most round character. Being that he is the main character, he needs to be round or else the film would be lacking. When we are first introduced to Vassili, we know very little of his skills with a rifle. We know that he has some experience, but to what degree, we do not yet know.
Enter Danilov, the political officer. He meets Vassili in dire circumstances. Danilov is not experienced with a weapon and it is obvious. They are both trapped but hidden and cannot escape until the nearby Nazis have been neutralized. Vassili offers his services. With only one mag in his rifle, he takes out each Nazi. One shot, one kill. This is the first time his extreme skill is revealed to both us AND Danilov. This ability alone makes Vassili more of a round character and introduces him into a new world within the Russian armed forces.
Tania, both Danilov’s and Vassili’s love interest, is a bit of a round character as well. How accurate her character is as it relates to the historical element of this film may be in question, but her role in the film is important. Tania is first introduced to us as a simple soldier, trying to do her part for the cause. She has befriended a boy, Sacha and his mother. Danilov and Vassili are very much vexed by her and silently compete for her attention. It is revealed to Danilov that she is quite intelligent and can speak German very well. He convinces her to transfer with him in the political officer arena to help intercept and translate German communications.
The war calls to her, however, and she requests to be transferred back into the field to fight. She wants to be a person of action, like Vassili, whom she is truly attracted to more so than Danilov.
Pick out bits of dialogue, visual images, or scenes which you consider especially effective in revealing character and tell why they are effective.
One scene that comes to mind in which I felt was effective in revealing character involves both Vassili and Danilov. It is actually the first time Tania is introduced to us as a character and not just an acquaintance. We are also introduced to the boy Sacha and his mother.
Vassili is invited into Sacha’s home. Sacha recognizes Vassili right away from the papers and photos. He is Sacha’s hero. Moments later, Danilov enters, greeting Vassili and the family. It appears that Sacha’s home is somewhat of a refuge. There are letters from all over Russia for Vassili that Danilov presents to him. They decide to reply to some of them for the moment. Danilov is educated, where Vassili is not AS educated. Tania then enters the home. Both men are immediately awe struck by her. The men continue to reply to a letter from a group of miners. Tania looks on. Vassili has his input on what some of the reply should be, talking about how miners are heroic in their own right. Danilov is there for context, grammar, and spelling as well. They both steal glances at Tania from time to time. It is a silent game of brain versus brawn in a way. Vassili is the Russian hero, out there in the trenches, taking down the Nazis one officer at a time. Danilov uses his words as his weapon, but during this exchange, there is an undertone of jealousy from Danilov. Almost as if he can sense that Vassili is also attracted to Tania, so he takes his jabs where he can by correcting Vassili purposefully and in ear shot of Tania.
This is the beginning of the rift that forms between these two comrades.
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