Enemy at a Gates occurs as movie directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud in 2001, adapted from either the book written by William Craig which loosely described events surrounding World War II Soviet sniper Vasily Zaitsev and his German rival, Major König, when you took a Battle of Stalingrad, 1942-1943. An additional book known as A War of the Rats formed a basis for the sniper duel element of the screenplay.

A aim of a film is to describe the role of propaganda in both sides of a war, instrumentalising the sniper-warfare as a metaphor of the fight of the two armies.

A film was criticized each inside Russia & within a West for ingesting considerable liberties using the information; in each its plot & in the depictions of its characters (notably Fiennes' character, Danilov, & a German sniper König), it varies widely from either a historical record. It met mixed pack-professional profits. All a same, the opening scenes, in which Red Army troops cross the Volga under heavy German fire, own been widely praised.

Tagline: The hero never chooses his destiny. His destiny chooses him.

Main cast
Jude Law - Vasily Zaitsev (spelt "Vassili" in the closing credits) Rachel Weisz - Tanya Chernova (spelt "Tania" in the closing credits) Joseph Fiennes - Commissar Danilov Bob Hoskins - Nikita Khrushchev (spelt "Krushchev" in the closing credits) Ed Harris - Major König Matthias Habich - General (later Field Marshal) Friedrich Paulus, commander-in-chief of the German Sixth Army Eva Mattes - Mother Filipov Gabriel Marshall-Thomson - Sacha Filipov Ron Perlman - Sniper Koulikov Sophie Rois - Ludmilla

Solecism
When Vasily Zaitsev was embraced by Nikita Khrushchev in a news conference, shown at 49:42 of the film in the DVD release, the 1977 revised version of Soviet Union's national hymn was played in the background, instead of the 1943 version, in contradictory of the instance of cases reflected in the film. At 50:17 in a picture, the song sang, ПартиÑ? Ленина — Ñ?ила народнаÑ?; in a period of the Great Patriotic War, the lyrics should scan, ЗнамÑ? Ñ?оветÑ?кое, знамÑ? народное. Watch National Anthem of the Soviet Union