THE MOVIE

I am a stone. I do not move. Very slowly, I put snow in my mouth, then he won’t see my breath. I take my time. I let him come closer. I have only one bullet. I aim at his eye. Very gently, my finger presses on the trigger. I do not tremble. I have no fear. I’m a big boy now.

The year is 1942, the place is Stalingrad. The city is the last obstacle between the Germans and their charge through the Soviet Union towards the oilfields in Asia. The German Third Reich is at the height of it’s power and Hitler’s armies are killing thousands of Russians. However, one young Russian soldier called Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law), previously a Shepard from Urals manages to survive even though almost all of his comrades are gunned down. Vassili soon proves his sharpshooting ability by saving himself and Dalinov (Joseph Fiennes), a political officer from the twenty first infantry.

Dalinov publishes a story about Vassili, and it’s not long before Vassili becomes a national hero after killing numerous German officers and denting the morale of the German troops. He gives his countrymen hope and inspires his fellow soldiers. The Germans then bring in one of their best snipers, Major Konig (Ed Harris) to kill the young Russian. In the end it will come down to just the two of them in a game of daring, stealth, skill and patience. Only one of them will walk away with their life…

Director Jean-Jacques Annaud has done an excellent job with this film. It is incredibly well shot and he makes this conflict look brutal, but yet at the same time, very compelling. It certain scenes it even looks as though mud has intentionally been placed on the camera lens when shooting from low angles to give the impression of the dirty, muddy conditions on the battle field. Jude Law is perfectly cast in this film as Vassili, he has an incredible presence and seems to go from strength to strength. This film also features some great performances by Rachel Weisz (The Mummy), Bob Hoskins and Ron Perlman.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

Enemy at the Gates is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 widescreen and it is 16:9 enhanced. Now when watching a typical war movie you can generally expect to see a fair amount of haze, fog, smoke and mud, and while this would mean adverse conditions for filming, this film is still incredibly detailed. This is evident right from the outset with the beautiful vision of the wolf, the gun muzzle and a young Vassili in the opening scenes.

This transfer is almost free of film grain and other film artefacts, although I did notice what appeared to be some mild aliasing of the blinds in the background of one scene that occurs in chapter 5 (22.56 minutes). As for colours, don’t go expecting an overly bright and vibrant transfer. This is a war film and as you’d expect colours look rather washed out, the dark muddy nature of the colours in this film (with the exception of the Red Army flags) effectively communicate the hopelessness of war. That said skin tones are very realistic, blacks are also nice and black. Shadow detail being very good during the darker night time scenes. The layer change occurs between two scenes, it has been placed between chapter 14 and 14 (85.56 minutes). It is noticeable, with a slight pause evident, but it isn’t overly disruptive to the flow of the film.

Audio:

This film comes with two soundtracks, an English Dolby Digital 5.1 channel soundtrack and a DTS 5.1 channel soundtrack. The Dolby Digital 5.1 channel soundtrack is awesome. First things first. This film has lots of bass! There are so many examples, but every time a bomb goes off, you can hear it. Also, in a number of cases, the lead up to the explosion is audible as a surround effect in the rear channels, for example the bombing scene is chapter 2 (7.06 and 7.18 minutes). Dialogue is extremely well separated and is audible at all stages of the film, even when the bombs are going off left, right and centre and bullets are whizzing past.

The battle scene in chapter 3 (11 minutes) is acoustically amazing, there is just so much going on, bullets and grenades can be heard in pretty much every channel. You get so wrapped up in the soundtrack and the bass just thumps. This effects driven sound contrasts really nicely with the subsequent scene where the musical score by James Horner (who also composed the music for Titanic) becomes prominent. It is quite eerie and used very effectively during a scene which shows the massive loss of life that was commonplace in such battles.

THE EXTRAS

Additional Scenes
There are nine deleted scenes in total, including The Pier, Sacha Douglas, Trenches, Soup Time, Sleep Koulikov, Black Cats, Tania Cries, Hang On and Danilov’s Report. There is also the option to Play All scenes, which are separated into discrete chapters making it easy to skip scenes. All additional scenes are presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 widescreen but only have Dolby Digital 2.0 channel sound. Visual quality is rather lacklustre when you compare these scenes to the actual film. Total running time is around 11.01 minutes.

Through the Crosshairs
This featurette contains your standard mix of interviews with cast members and director cut together with excerpts from the film. It has the most dreadful narration, but the content isn’t all that bad. Despite running for almost 20 minutes it still tends to have that “extended trailer” feel about it, with far too much plot exploration. It is presented in 1.33:1 full frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 channel sound.

Inside Enemy at the Gates
The second featurette is much the same as the first. It includes interviews with Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, Joseph Fiennes, Ed Harris and director Jean-Jacques Annaud. The actors talk about how they were actually trained by an ex-SAS soldier in weapon handling. Be warned, this featurette does contain a couple of plot spoilers. Like the featurette above, it is presented in 1.33:1 full frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 channel sound. It runs for around 15 minutes.

Cast and Crew Biographies
Biographies and filmographies for actors Jude Law, Joseph Fiennes, Ed Harris, Bob Hoskins and Rachel Weisz, as well as director Jean-Jacques Annaud. Plenty of detail here, you can even find out who Rachel Weisz is rumoured to have dated.

Theatrical trailer
This is a ripper trailer, which comes complete with a 2.35:1 widescreen presentation and Dolby Digital 5.1 channel sound. This has some nice bass and gives you a taste of the excellent musical score that this film has. Running time is 2.16 minutes.

SUMMARY

Enemy At The Gates is an excellent war film with quite a compelling storyline. It revolves around the German attack on Stalingrad (World War II), a battle in which over 1 million Russian soldiers lost their lives. Juxtaposed on top of this war is the story of Russian sniper Vassili Zaitsev versus German sniper Major Konig. This DVD has an excellent visual transfer, and sound quality is pretty damn good as well.