History Film / EnemyAtTheGates

In the movie, Zaytsev (Law) is a young, slightly naive shepherd from the Urals press-ganged into serving in the Battle of Stalingrad during the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1942. He barely manages to survive a futile charge at the German positions and encounters a political commissar, Danilov (Creator/JosephFiennes), who witnesses him expertly take out five enemy officers single-handedly with just an abandoned rifle and five bullets. Impressed by the young man's gifted marksmanship, Danilov has him reassigned to the sniper division and uses his propaganda connections to spread the story of his exploits, turning him into a hero and restoring the broken morale of the Soviet defenders. Unfortunately, the friendship between the two becomes strained when both fall in love with Tania (Creator/RachelWeisz), a beautiful young woman who crosses the paths of both, and when the Germans, themselves now increasingly demoralized thanks to the stories of Zaytsev's exploits, introduce the cold, ruthless Major König (Creator/EdHarris) into the battle. Himself a brilliant sniper, König has only one order -- kill Vasily Zaytsev.

* BasedOnAGreatBigLie: Zaytsev and Chernova were real people, but veracity of their exploits is doubted by many historians as either Soviet propaganda in the case of Zaytsev or self-promotion in the case of Chernova. The main plot of their battle with Major König and love triangle with Danilov are both regarded as complete inventions.

''Enemy at the Gates'' (also known as ''Stalingrad: Enemy at the Gates'') is a 2001 war movie directed by Creator/JeanJacquesAnnaud and starring Creator/JudeLaw as a Russian sniper in the [[UsefulNotes/RedsWithRockets Soviet Red Army]] in the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Great Patriotic War]], during the battle of Stalingrad. At the time it came out it was the most expensive film ever produced by a European studio. It's VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory, that of the real-life sniper [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Zaytsev Vasily Zaytsev]], with the basic plot based off a subplot in the non-fiction book ''Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad''.

** The last two Germans Vasily kills certainly get one when they realize that in the span of less then thirty seconds, three of their comrades were killed, and they had little idea where the shots came from. The final one definitely qualifies when he realized his weapon was not within arms reach (something that EVERY army from UsefulNotes/WW1 on drills into its soldiers from the moment they start training-NEVER leave your weapon where you cannot quickly grab it and use it).

* EvilCounterpart: König is this to Zaytsev. Both are immensely skilled snipers but are polar opposites in most respects. Zaytsev grew up a poor shepherd in the Ural Mountains who hunted wolves for survival while König is a nobleman from Bavaria who hunted deer for sport. While Zaytsev is an enlisted soldier, König is an officer (a Major to be precise). And while Zaytsev is a WarmSniper who has friends and is generally pleasant, König is a ColdSniper that doesn’t seem to care what his comrades think of him.

* RightThroughHisPants: There's an extremely awkward sex scene where the only flesh shown is a brief shot of the woman's butt as she pulls her pants down. All other clothing stays on. This one is justified, since they were in the midst of an army camp in Russia and were trying not to attract any attention, and it was ''cold''.

* ThoseWackyNazis: Nazis are the villains.

''Enemy at the Gates'' (also known as ''Stalingrad: Enemy at the Gates'') is a 2001 war movie directed by Creator/JeanJacquesAnnaud and starring Creator/JudeLaw as a Russian sniper in the [[UsefulNotes/RedsWithRockets Soviet Red Army]] in the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Great Patriotic War]], during the battle of Stalingrad. At the time it came out it was the most expensive film ever produced by an European studio. It's VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory, that of the real-life sniper [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Zaytsev Vasily Zaytsev]], with the basic plot based off a subplot in the non-fiction book ''Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad''.

** In the scene where Vasili is brought before the cameras at a ceremony in his honor, the ''"State Anthem of the Soviet Union"'' can be heard playing. However, the film takes place in 1942, long before the song was even written. Furthermore, the lyrics of the song are actually that of the modified version introduced in 1977. The national anthem of the USSR at the time the film takes place would have been "The Internationale."

** In the scene where Vasili is brought before the cameras at a ceremony in his honor, the "State Anthem of the Soviet Union" can be heard playing. However, the film takes place in 1942, long before the song was even written. Furthermore, the lyrics of the song are actually that of the modified version introduced in 1977. The national anthem of the USSR at the time the film takes place would have been "The Internationale."

''Enemy at the Gates'' (also known as ''Stalingrad: Enemy at the Gates'') is a 2001 war movie directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and starring Jude Law as a Russian sniper in the [[UsefulNotes/RedsWithRockets Soviet Red Army]] in the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Great Patriotic War]], during the battle of Stalingrad. At the time it came out it was the most expensive film ever produced by an European studio. It's VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory, that of the real-life sniper [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Zaytsev Vasily Zaytsev]], with the basic plot based off a subplot in the non-fiction book ''Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad''.

* CannedOrdersOverLoudspeaker: Used during the battle of Stalingrad by the Red Army as a means to bolster morale.

* UriahGambit: Danilov makes a point to put Vasily on the front lines during the German offensive so he won't stand in the way of his interest in Tania.

* ItsPersonal: König's entire reason for going out to Russia to hunt Vasily. His [[spoiler:son]] had died in Stalingrad early on in the war, and König wants revenge.

* SpreadingDisasterMapGraphic: The film opens with a graphic showing the German conquest of Europe, ending as the wave of advance gets to Stalingrad. Curiously, they show Nazi Germany [[ArtisticLicenseHistory starting out with its mid-war borders]] and invading their allies (Italy, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria[[note]]Those first two did happen historically later on, but that's not what they're showing[[/note]]) and several neutral countries (Switzerland, Spain, Turkey) as well. This might be handwaved though if you simply think of the expanding boundary as Germany's "Influence" rather then its actual military conquest, which it did indeed gain over its allies and even the neutrals, as Spain, Turkey, and arguably even Switzerland were at least sympathetic to the Axis cause.

* YouKilledMyFather: Tania is desperate to serve on the front lines rather than military HQ because she received news that her parents were deported and killed by the Germans for being Jews.

* TheUriahGambit: Danilov makes a point to put Vasily on the front lines during the German offensive so he won't stand in the way of his interest in Tania.

* TheUriahGambit: When Danilov makes a point to put Vasily on the front lines during the German offensive.

* NotWorthKilling: At one point Vasily has his sights on a random German soldier smoking a cigarette. He doesn't kill him, presumably for this reason.

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Everyone speaks with British or America accents (excluding some of the Germans, who speak German instead of English) rather than attempt Russian and German accents to stand in for foreign languages. In the commentary track, the director notes that this allows characters to show that they are from different regions and walks of life. It also sidesteps the language barrier between Konig and the Russians.