Stalingrad (movie, 2001)

Stalingrad or Enemy at the gates to Quebec ( Enemy at the Gates ) is a multinational film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud , released in 2001 .

Synopsis

Vasili Zaitsev is a young sniper. During the siege of Stalingrad , he met Danilov, a Red Army political officer, to whom he demonstrated his talents by killing Germans, including officers, with rapid and precise rifle fire. Danilov proposes to the commandment to make Vasily a hero, an idol, to restore hope to men by publishing his exploits. In response, the German staff dispatched his best sniper, Major König. At the heart of the Battle of Stalingrad, a hunt then commits between the two heroes. The battle, as well as Vassili’s state of grace with the political commissioner, seems to be suspended at the end of the duel.

Sacha is a Soviet boy who knows König and Vasily. He works for Danilov and gives truncated information to König, who help Vassili. König ends up understanding that the boy works for the Sovetics and hangs him. Vassili and Danilov meet Tania Chernova, Danilov thinks to start a relationship with her, but when he realizes that it is Vasily who enjoys his favors, he sends a letter to his superiors to denounce a defeatist behavior of Vassili . Shortly after, Tania is hit by a shrapnel. The thinking dead, Danilov regrets to have betrayed his friend and decides to help Vasili discovering that König shoot him and thus reveals his position. Danilov dies of a bullet in the head, and when König leaves his hiding place and approaches to see the

Tania finally survives her wound and Vassili finds her in a hospital.

Technical sheet

  • Original title: Enemy at the Gates
  • French title: Stalingrad
  • Quebec title: The enemy at the gates
  • Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud
  • Script: Jean-Jacques Annaud and Alain Godard , inspired by the book Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad  (in) of William Craig  (in) appeared in 1973
  • Music: James Horner
  • Costumes: Janty Yates
  • Photography: Robert Fraisse
  • Editing: Noëlle Drink , Humphrey Dixon
  • Special Effects: John Evans
  • Production: Jean-Jacques Annaud , John D. Schofield
  • Production Companies :
    •  United States : Paramount Pictures , Mandalay Pictures
    •  Germany : KC Medien , MP Film Management
    •  France : Reperage
    •  United Kingdom :Swanford Films
    •  Ireland : Little Bird
  • Distribution:
    •  Germany : Constantin Film (cinema), BMG Video (VHS), Universum Film ( DVD )
    •  United States : Paramount Pictures (Movie) and Paramount Home Video (DVDand VHS)
    •  France : Pathé
  • Budget: $ 68 million
  • Country of Origin: France , Germany , United States , Ireland , United Kingdom
  • Shooting languages: English , German and Russian
  • Format: Color ( DeLuxe ) – 2.35: 1 (Super 35) – Dolby Digital and DTS – 35 mm
  • Genre: war
  • Duration: 131 minutes ( 2 hours 11 )
  • Release dates 1 :
    •  Germany : ( Preview at the Berlinale 2001 )
    •  France , Belgium : 
    •  United States , Canada , United Kingdom :  

Distribution

  • Jude Law (VF: Frédéric Deban , VQ: Sebastian Ventura ) : Vassili Zaitev
  • Rachel Weisz (VF: Catherine Le Henan, VQ: Anne Bédard ) : Tania Chernova
  • Joseph Fiennes (VF: Eric Herson-Macarel , VQ: Antoine Durand ) : Commissioner Danilov
  • Bob Hoskins (VF: Jacques Frantz , VQ: Yves Massicotte ) : Nikita Khrushchev
  • Ed Harris (VF: Richard Darbois , VQ: Jean-Marie Moncelet ) : Major Erwin König
  • Ron Perlman (VF: Luc Florian, VQ: François L’Ecuyer ) : Kulikov
  • Eva Mattes : Ms Filipova
  • Gabriel Marshall-Thomson : Sasha Filippov
  • Matthias Habich : General Friedrich Paulus
  • Sophie Rois : Ludmila
  • Ivan Shvedoff : Volodja
  • Mario Bandi : Anton
  • Hans-Martin Stier : the Soviet general committed suicide
  • Clemans Schick : the German NCO
  • Mikhail Matveev : Vassili’s grandfather
  • Alexander Schwan : Vasily child
  • Dan van Husen : the political officer
  • Thomas Petruo : the lieutenant of the zagradotriad unit
  • Lenn Kudrjawizki : the comrade in the train
  • Gennadi Vengerov : the Soviet NCO
  • Hendrik Arnst  (de) : the colonel in the shower
  • Claudius Freyer : the aide-de-camp
  • Dietmar Nieder : the blond captain
  • Bernd Lambrecht : the lighter captain
  • Maxim Kovalevski : the sniper

Soundtrack

Enemy at the Gates
Soundtrack of James Horner
Exit 2001
duration 76:31
Kind movie soundtrack

edit

The music of the film is composed by James Horner 2 , who had already collaborated with Jean-Jacques Annaud for The Name of the Rose (1986).

Some elements of the film’s soundtrack are borrowed from Russian composers. Thus, the trumpet theme that appears repeatedly throughout the film would be borrowed from the First Symphony by Sergei Rachmaninoff . A short passage from the soundtrack (located at the final appearance of People’s Commissioner Danilov) is clearly borrowed from the beginning of Dmitry Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11 . The theme of Vassili and Tania would, meanwhile, think of the theme of Schindler’s List , also composed by John Williams.

List of titles
o title Composer duration
1. The River Crossing to Stalingrad James Horner 3:13 p.m.
2. The Hunter Becomes the Hunted James Horner 5:53
3. Vassili’s Fame Spreads James Horner 3:40
4. Kulikov James Horner 5:13
5. The Dream James Horner 2:35
6. Bitter News James Horner 2:38
7. The Tractor Factory James Horner 6:43
8. A Sniper’s War James Horner 3:25
9. Sacha’s Risk James Horner 5:37
10. Betrayal James Horner 11:28
11. Danilov’s Confession James Horner 7:13
12. Tania (End Credits) James Horner 6:53
76:31

Shooting

The film was shot entirely in Germany , Bavaria and also in Brandenburg , including Babelsberg Studios and the Krampnitz barracks in Potsdam , as well as the Rüdersdorf lime factory .

Comments

viewThis section does not provide enough sources (November 2014) .

The story of these two enemies is inspired by the clash between Vasily Zaitsev , hero of the Russian patriotic war and to whom 242 dead enemies were attributed [ref. necessary] , and his German rival, Major Heinz Thorvald , master instructor of the German snipers, sent to Stalingrad to kill him who had become one of the symbols of the Soviet resistance against the Wehrmacht . The existence of this major Thorvald is the subject of a debate, some historians arguing that it was created by Soviet propaganda to increase the prestige of Zaitev .

Error

At the reception organized by Nikita Khrushchev for Zaitev, we can hear the hymn of the Soviet Union , but in 1942 it is the International which served as the national anthem of the USSR. The hymn of the Soviet Union became the national anthem of the country on March 15, 1944 .

The character of Sasha Filippov is greatly modified compared to reality: in the film he is about ten years old when in fact he is seventeen years old. In addition, in the film, he gives information to the Germans for food and information to the Soviets to help Vasily Zaitev , In fact, he did not give information to the Germans and obtained information for the Soviets because he He was a shoemaker for the Germans, not because he was given food for it.

The existence of Major Erwin König is disputed.

Once again, as in many books and documentaries, the German commander-in-chief is called von Paulus. In reality his name is Friedrich Paulus .

Video Games

The Call of Duty series pays tribute to the film on three occasions. In the first opus, the Soviet campaign opens on a scene similar to that of the film: the Russian troops cross the Volga being machine-gunned by the German air force, after which the player reaches the city where Soviet officers distribute rifles and ammunition. In the second, during the Russian campaign, the player plays a Russian soldier named Vassili, during missions in Stalingrad.

The RTS ” Company of Heroes 2 ” also pays homage to the film through a cinematic of the campaign taking up almost all the plans of the crossing of the river and the men who climb the assault all in computer generated image by the engine of the game during the introduction of the Soviet campaign in Stalingrad.

In the fifth installment, Call of Duty: World at War , a mission is partly inspired by the film. The player controls a Russian sniper equipped with a Mosin-Nagant (Vassili’s weapon) and tries to shoot down a German general with the help of a Soviet sergeant.

In the game Alliance of Valiant Arms the character of Vasily Zaitev is playable in tribute to the famous Soviet soldier.

Notes and references

  1. ↑ (en) Release dates [ archive ] on the Internet Movie Database
  2. ↑ (in) Enemy at the Gates Soundtrack ”  [ archive ] , on AllMusic .com (accessed 11 December 2014 ) .

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