Enemy at the Gates tells a simple story: two soldiers, on opposite sides of World War II, trade shots across Stalingrad. The film wants to be a war epic, a romance, and a political statement. It succeeds at none of it. What remains is a hollow shell of a movie, full of spectacle and empty of meaning.
Trailer, via YouTube Movies.
Vasily Zaytsev and Erwin Rommel
The central pairing is Vasily Zaytsev, played by Jude Law, and Erwin Rommel, played by Ed Harris. Zaytsev is a sniper who rises through the ranks of the Red Army. Rommel is a German officer tasked with retaking the city. The film sets them up as equals, locked in a personal duel over who can kill the other first.
It does not work. Law plays Zaytsev with a blank stare and a heavy accent. He is meant to be a hero, but he comes off as a cipher. Harris fares better. His Rommel is cold and calculating, but the character never feels fully human. Both actors are doing their best with bad material.
The Battle of Stalingrad
Stalingrad is a city under siege, and the film captures that chaos with wide shots of rubble and fire. The battle scenes are loud and chaotic, but they lack urgency. The audience watches armies move across the screen without understanding why. The film treats the city as a backdrop, not a place with people living in it.
The film also spends too much time on the sniper’s personal life. Zaytsev falls in love with a nurse named Tania, played by Rachel Weisz. Their romance is meant to soften the violence, but it only distracts from the war around them. The love story is a subplot that should have been trimmed.
Ed Harris’s Directorial Debut
Enemy at the Gates is Ed Harris’s directorial debut, and he clearly wanted to make a grand statement. The problem is that grand statements require something to say. The film is ambitious in scale but thin in substance. The battle sequences are choreographed with precision, but they feel empty once the camera moves away.
Harris also directs himself as Rommel, which is a strange choice. He is far more effective behind the camera than in front of it. The film is at its best when it focuses on the mechanics of war, and worst when it tries to be personal.
The Political Message
The film is supposed to be about the triumph of the Soviet people over fascism. That message is buried under layers of melodrama. The script, adapted from William Craig’s book, is more interested in spectacle than in ideas. The film shows the horror of war but never asks the audience to think about it.
There is a scene near the end where Zaytsev is captured and interrogated. It is meant to be tense, but it feels like filler. The film is more concerned with the sniper’s survival than with what his survival means. That is a failure of purpose.
Comparing the Two Leads
| Lead | Actor | Role | Performance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vasily Zaytsev | Jude Law | Sniper | Blank, one-note |
| Erwin Rommel | Ed Harris | Officer | Controlled, cold |
Ed Harris’s Rommel is the stronger performance. Jude Law’s Zaytsev is a wasted opportunity. Neither actor gets the chance to dig deep into their character.
A Running Order of the Film
| Scene | Time |
|---|---|
| Opening credits | 0:00 |
| Sniper training | 0:05 |
| First kill | 0:15 |
| Love affair with Tania | 0:20 |
| Siege begins | 0:30 |
| Duel between snipers | 0:40 |
| Interrogation scene | 0:50 |
| Climax | 0:55 |
| Closing credits | 1:00 |
The film runs just over an hour and a half, but it feels much longer. The pacing drags, especially during the middle sections. The love story and the war story never connect, and the film suffers for it.
The Final Word
Enemy at the Gates is a film that aspires to greatness but settles for adequacy. It is technically competent, with decent performances and strong visuals. But it lacks a center. The war is big, but the stakes are small. The characters are memorable, but the story is not.
The film fails because it never commits to what it is trying to be. It wants to be a war epic, a love story, and a political statement. It cannot hold three jobs at once. The result is a film that is pleasant to watch but forgettable afterward.
Enemy at the Gates is a disappointment. It has the pieces of a great film, but it never puts them together. The final score is 5.3 out of 10.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.
