Enemy at the Gates (2001) on Netflix
Vassili Zaitsev, a Red Army replacement, becomes a celebrated sniper at Stalingrad. Danilov, a political officer, prints his kills in the army paper, and Germany sends Major König to hunt him.
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Trailer
Plot summary
In the winter of 1942 the Red Army and the German forces fight for Stalingrad, block by block, among the ruins. Vassili Zaitsev, a replacement soldier, crosses the Volga with rifle cartridges and no weapon of his own, and is thrown into a human wave attack. He takes cover beside Commissar Danilov and, with a single rifle, shoots five German soldiers. Nikita Khrushchev, the Red Army commander, asks how morale can be raised, and Danilov proposes reviving the army newspaper and turning Vassili's shooting into a story of hope. Vassili joins the sniper division and befriends Danilov. Both men take an interest in Tania Chernova, a private in the city's militia, and Danilov has her moved to an intelligence unit that translates German radio intercepts. As Soviet snipers wear the Germans down, Major Erwin König is sent to kill Vassili.
Cast
- Alexander Schwanas Young Vassili Zaitsev
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Enemy at the Gates (2001)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Some Red Army Stalingrad veterans were so offended by inaccuracies in the film and by its portrayal of the Red Army that on 7 May 2001, shortly after the film premiered in Russia, they expressed their displeasure in the State Duma and demanded a ban of the film.
- At the Berlinale film festival the film was booed. Annaud stated afterward that he would not present another film at Berlinale, calling it a slaughterhouse, and said that his film received a much better reception elsewhere.
- Historian Antony Beevor said he believed Zaitsev's story to be fictional, and there is no documentation about the duel between Zaytsev and Major Erwin König that the film is built on.
- Historian Alexey Isaev, who has written several books about the Battle of Stalingrad, said of the lack of weapons that there were no unarmed soldiers sent to the attack, and that what is shown in Enemy at the Gates is pure nonsense.
- The film misrepresents the role of blocking detachments in the Red Army: despite Order No. 227 and its rallying cry of not a step back, machine gunners were not placed behind regular troops with orders to kill anyone who retreated, and were used only for penal troops.
- The film has been accused of understating the role of women: two women snipers appear in it but never shoot at anyone, while Soviet women snipers have been credited with killing over 10,000 enemies in combat.
- One of the soldiers depicted in the film is Lyudmila Pavlichenko, gaining her famous facial scar in front of Zaitsev, although she has not been recorded teaming with him in combat.
- Zaitsev's own book, There was no land for us beyond the Volga. Sniper's Notes, completely contradicts the point of view presented in Craig's book and in the film on the events that took place, and is not taken into account.
