Enemy at the Gates Movie Review 2000

World War II saga set during the siege of Stalingrad in 1942 as Russian sniper Zaitsev (Law) tracks his equal in German sniper Konig (Harris). Law is also involved in a romantic triangle with a female Russian soldier (Weisz) and smarmy commissar Danilov (Fiennes). Only the sniper story is based on actual events and real people, from William Craig's historical account. Otherwise, the story as put on screen leaves out a lot, namely any real exploration of either the German or the Russian social and political stances of the time. We're left with good-looking men shooting it out in front of dramatic scenery, and a World War ll lacking historical commentary.

Distribution

Paramount Home Video, 5555 Melrose Ave., 5555 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90038, Phone: (323)956-5000, URL: http://www.paramount.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 131 minutes.
Originally from German, British, Irish, United States.

Cast and Crew

Genres

World War II, Russia/USSR, True Stories, Military: Foreign, Nazis & Other Paramilitary Slugs, Sniper

Screenplay

Jean-Jacques Annaud, Alain Godard

Cast

Jude Law, Ed Harris, Joseph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Bob Hoskins, Gabriel Marshall-Thomson, Eva Mattes, Ron Perlman, Matthias Habich

Cinematography

Robert Fraisse

Director

Jean-Jacques Annaud

Music

James Horner

Other

Eddy Joseph, Martin Mueller, Rich Kline, Chris Carpenter, Noell Boisson, Humphrey Dixon, Steven Lawrence, Dominic Master, Janty Yates, Wolf Kroeger

Producer

John Schofield, Jean-Jacques Annaud, Reperage, Paramount Pictures, Mandalay Entertainment