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Parents' Guide to

Enemy at the Gates

By Nell Minow, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 17+

Tense and violent WWII movie.

Movie R 2001 131 minutes
Enemy at the Gates Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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age 15+

Based on 5 parent reviews

Sam M.
Sam M. Parent of baby-year-old
November 19, 2017
age 16+

Entertaining but cheesy, war B movie.

The battle sequences and sniper duels are good to watch and the setting and production of a less often seen front of WW2 is nice. Yet the story lacks cohesion and focus. Its themes of propoganda, fighting for government vs country and the soldiers psyche dont quite line up or at all feel finished in execution, and the romance feels very forced. The writing can be hokey and mopey too. Ed Harris is good as a aging, softspoken but manipulative Nazi sniper. Yet its irritating hearing Russian soldiers speak in British Accents, only the American Ron Perlman attempts an actual Russian one. A couple of Battle sequences are about as graphic as youd see in a Call of Duty game (an Infinity Ward one) but theres much less of big battles as there are sniper duels that yield many and sometimes icky headshots. Theres also a very awkward sleeping bag sex scene that briefly shows the womans butt.
1 person found this helpful.
ruskin bruce
ruskin bruce Adult
November 17, 2010
age 17+
good but the sex scene is unnecessary to be that lengthy

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much sex
1 person found this helpful.
See all 5 parent reviews

What's the Story?

It is 1942, the Germans are invading Stalingrad, and the Russians are overmatched. A tough new commanding officer, Nikita Krushchev (Bob Hoskins) asks for suggestions on how to build the morale of his soldiers. Young political officer Danilov (Joseph Fiennes) makes a suggestion -- "give them heroes." He's seen a soldier kill five Germans, each with a single shot. The soldier is Vassily Zaitsev (Jude Law), a poor, uneducated boy, but a sharpshooter. Danilov's propaganda makes Zaitsev a legend. The Germans send their own legendary sniper, Koenig (Ed Harris), to kill him. Danilov sees Koenig's arrival as a chance for bigger and better propaganda. Koenig is a nobleman, adding a class war to the story. But everything Danilov does to make Zaitsev a hero and an asset to the Soviets makes him more vulnerable to discovery and attack by the Germans. Things get even more complicated when Danilov and Zaitsev fall for the same girl, a tough soldier named Tania (Rachel Weisz).

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (5 ):
Kids say (5 ):

This is a thinking person's historical epic, so impressively ambitious in taking on issues and ideas that you have to cut it some slack when it doesn't manage them all as skillfully as it hopes to. The story of the German siege of Leningrad is worth a movie in itself. The cat and mouse game between Koenig and Zaitsev is like something out of a classic western, more much about strategy, courage, ingenuity, and patience as about sharpshooting. The issue of using one individual's story to manipulate the masses plays out fascinatingly throughout the movie. It is reminiscent of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence's famous line, "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." If the love triangle is the weakest part of the movie, that is only because the rest of it is so strong.

All four stars are excellent, especially Law's guileless integrity and Harris' variation -- a sort of guile-full integrity. When the two men face off against each other, it's clear that they understand each other in a way that no one else ever can.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the effect that fame has on people. At first, Zaitsev innocently enjoys the attention, though he never lets it go to his head. Later he says, "I can't carry that weight any more. I want to fight as a regular soldier." Was what Danilov did necessary? Was it fair to Zaitsev? Did it do what it was intended to? How was that similar to what the Germans did to Koenig? (Think about the scene where he turns in his dogtags)? Why did Tania chose the one she loves? Think about what it says about the real Zaitsev at the end of the movie -- does the movie do to the real Zaitsev what Danilov did to the fictional one?

Movie Details

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