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Enemy at the Gates

501 statements
98 feature instances
49 referencing feature instances

Enemy at the Gates	type	TVTItem
Enemy at the Gates	label	Enemy at the Gates
Enemy at the Gates	page	EnemyAtTheGates
Enemy at the Gates	comment	Enemy at the Gates (also known as Stalingrad: Enemy at the Gates) is a 2001 war movie directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and starring Jude Law as a Russian sniper in the Soviet Red Army in the Great Patriotic War, during the battle of Stalingrad. At the time it came out it was the most expensive film ever produced by a European studio. It's Very Loosely Based on a True Story, that of the real-life sniper Vasily Zaytsev, with the basic plot based off a segment in the non-fiction book Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad.In the movie, Zaytsev (Law) is a young, slightly naive shepherd from the Urals press-ganged into serving in the Battle of Stalingrad during the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1942. He barely manages to survive a futile charge at the German positions and encounters a political commissar, Danilov (Joseph Fiennes), who witnesses him expertly take out five enemy officers single-handedly with just an abandoned rifle and five bullets. Impressed by the young man's gifted marksmanship, Danilov has him reassigned to the sniper division and uses his propaganda connections to spread the story of his exploits, turning him into a hero and restoring the broken morale of the Soviet defenders. Unfortunately, the friendship between the two becomes strained when both fall in love with Tania (Rachel Weisz), a female private in the Stalingrad militia, and when the Germans, themselves now increasingly demoralized thanks to the stories of Zaytsev's exploits, introduce the cold, ruthless Major König (Ed Harris) into the battle. Himself a brilliant sniper, König has only one order — kill Vasily Zaytsev.See also the 1993 German film Stalingrad and the 2013 Russian made Stalingrad for other points of view on the battle.
Enemy at the Gates	fetched	2023-08-19T20:29:54Z
Enemy at the Gates	parsed	2023-08-19T20:29:54Z
Enemy at the Gates	processingComment	Dropped link to Fanservice: Not a Feature - IGNORE
Enemy at the Gates	processingComment	Dropped link to InNameOnly: Not a Feature - ITEM
Enemy at the Gates	isPartOf	DBTropes
Enemy at the Gates	sameAs	Enemy_at_the_Gates
Enemy at the Gates / int_1122ec31	type	Farm Boy
Enemy at the Gates / int_1122ec31	comment	Farm Boy: Well, shepherd boy is a more accurate label. Vasily grew up a shepherd in the Ural Mountains. It serves as a catalyst for why he’s such a good sniper; he was taught by his grandfather to shoot wolves that threatened their animals.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_1237828f	type	Anyone Can Die
Enemy at the Gates / int_1237828f	comment	Anyone Can Die: Not surprising, considering it's war and based somewhat on events that happened. A number of supporting characters, including Sacha, are killed by König.
Enemy at the Gates / int_1237828f	featureApplicability	1.0
Enemy at the Gates / int_1237828f	featureConfidence	1.0
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Enemy at the Gates / int_12575a9f	type	Friendly Sniper
Enemy at the Gates / int_12575a9f	comment	Friendly Sniper: Jude Law's portrayal of Soviet sniper Vasily Zaytsev. He's pretty affable and chatty towards fellow soldiers and civilians alike. On the battlefield, however...
Enemy at the Gates / int_12575a9f	featureApplicability	1.0
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Enemy at the Gates / int_1645005b	type	Evil Versus Evil
Enemy at the Gates / int_1645005b	comment	Evil Versus Evil — The Soviets are shown to be only slightly better than the Germans, while omitting anything that would show that they were fighting a war for national survival against a genocidal Nazi invasion.
Enemy at the Gates / int_1645005b	featureApplicability	1.0
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Enemy at the Gates / int_1b72be3	type	Where's My Gun?
Enemy at the Gates / int_1b72be3	comment	Where's My Gun?: Once the last soldier realizes that Zaytsev is there, and has killed 4 of his comrades, he quickly realizes that his rifle is not within arms reach, and tries to go for it... only to have Zaytsev introduce his skull to a 7.62mm bullet before he can get more then three feet from his starting position.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_1dacdb4f	type	Senseless Sacrifice
Enemy at the Gates / int_1dacdb4f	comment	Senseless Sacrifice: The first battle scene shows hundreds of woefully unprepared and underequipped Russian soldiers frantically charging directly into entrenched German machine gun fire and being promptly mowed down. A few stragglers manage to survive and try to retreat, only to be similarly slaughtered by their own officers.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_1e020735	type	Heroic Suicide
Enemy at the Gates / int_1e020735	comment	Heroic Suicide: In the middle of a sniper stalemate in between main protagonist Vasily and the German Cold Sniper, Vasily's friend-slash-sentimental-rival, quite jealous that the Love Interest (now presumed dead) has chosen Vasily over him and disillusioned with the communist cause, exposes himself to the enemy's field of fire as a final act of friendship and gets a bullet in the head as a result; this allows Vasily to pinpoint the bad guy's position and kill him.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_21e5b9c7	type	Failed a Spot Check
Enemy at the Gates / int_21e5b9c7	comment	Failed a Spot Check: Konig doesn’t notice Vasily standing a couple of feet away aiming at him until it’s too late.
Enemy at the Gates / int_21e5b9c7	featureApplicability	1.0
Enemy at the Gates / int_21e5b9c7	featureConfidence	1.0
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Enemy at the Gates / int_21f3aa44	type	Good Is Not Nice
Enemy at the Gates / int_21f3aa44	comment	Khrushchev: "I have to report to the boss. Perhaps you'd prefer to avoid the red tape?" In this case, this is done by the good guys, as Deliberate Values Dissonance.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_229c2ec8	type	Uriah Gambit
Enemy at the Gates / int_229c2ec8	comment	Uriah Gambit: Danilov makes a point to put Vasily on the front lines during the German offensive so he won't stand in the way of his interest in Tania. More blatantly, after seeing the two together, he writes an article for the propaganda paper questioning Vasily's faith in Sovietism to turn the government against him.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_22cf536c	type	Chekhov's Gun
Enemy at the Gates / int_22cf536c	comment	Chekhov's Gun: The ammo clip given to Vasily just after crossing the Volga proves to be important following the massacre at the fountain, when the Mosin-Nagant rifle that Danilov pilfers from a dead Soviet soldier turns out to be out of ammuniton.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_23473ae7	type	Adaptation Expansion
Enemy at the Gates / int_23473ae7	comment	Adaptation Expansion: The book the movie is based off of is a (fairly ahistorical) non-fiction book chronicling the entire Battle of Stalingrad. Although Tania and Zaytsev do appear in the book (the former much more so than the latter), the movie's plot is based on a brief segment less than three pages long.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_24ae6005	type	The Political Officer
Enemy at the Gates / int_24ae6005	comment	The Political Officer: Several political officers are seen shooting anyone attempting to retreat. The deuteragonist Danilov is a reasonably nice person, though.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_26eb6287	type	Funny Background Event
Enemy at the Gates / int_26eb6287	comment	Funny Background Event: A few during the party scene, such as the young lady putting on makeup with a determined look in her eye, or the guy with the candles.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_2ae277ab	type	Mauve Shirt
Enemy at the Gates / int_2ae277ab	comment	Mauve Shirt: Most of the snipers under Vasily's command receive a small amount of characterisation before being unceremoniously killed off. Koulikov suffers from this the worst.
Enemy at the Gates / int_2ae277ab	featureApplicability	1.0
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Enemy at the Gates / int_2dbbe772	type	Propaganda Hero
Enemy at the Gates / int_2dbbe772	comment	Propaganda Hero: Vasily's backstory and natural talent are eagerly exploited by the Russian war department, who are desperate for a way to boost morale. At one point Vassily is seen answering fan mail, trying to get to as many as possible, as "I might not be here today".
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Enemy at the Gates / int_33029735	type	Dies Wide Open
Enemy at the Gates / int_33029735	comment	Dies Wide Open: Tania has an Oh, Crap! moment when she sees a German soldier staring at her, until a doctor pulls a blanket over the man's eyes.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_3346f944	type	Not Worth Killing
Enemy at the Gates / int_3346f944	comment	Not Worth Killing: At one point Vasily has his sights on a random German soldier smoking a cigarette. He doesn't kill him, ostensibly to not give his position away, but this likely played a part as well. He says as much to Sacha later on, saying that he was just a rank and file soldier and that his death wouldn’t have meant much in the grand scheme of things. Perhaps he wanted the man to have a chance to survive the war.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_363f94c9	type	Awful Truth
Enemy at the Gates / int_363f94c9	comment	Awful Truth: Danilov cannot bring himself to inform Sacha's mother of how her son was murdered by Major König, so he lies and says that Sacha defected to live in Germany. Quite bizarrely, she reacts with relief and hope with the news that her son is a traitor to his country and will certainly be non-personed and sent to a gulag or shot if the Soviet authorities ever find him.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_39271aee	type	The Backwards Я
Enemy at the Gates / int_39271aee	comment	The Backwards Я: The opening credits and the closing credits are both presented in a faux-Cyrillic font meant to suggest Russian.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_396e1c2a	type	Face Death with Dignity
Enemy at the Gates / int_396e1c2a	comment	Face Death with Dignity: When König realizes at the end that he fell into a trap and Vasily has his sights locked on him, he doesn't panic or try to fight it with a futile attempt to dodge it. He just surrenders to the notion, drops his gun, and looks at Vasily before he shoots him.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_3b657394	type	Mistaken Death Confirmation
Enemy at the Gates / int_3b657394	comment	Mistaken Death Confirmation: During the latter half of the film, Vasily attempts to ambush Major Konig near a gravel pile full of dead Soviet soldiers. Due to having been awake for hours on end, he ends up falling asleep from the fatigue. During this time, his dog-tags are retrieved by a German deserter looking for war trophies. German propaganda and General Paulus mistake this as a confirmation of Vasily's death, and begin broadcasting this through propaganda trucks. Major Konig, however, isn't convinced, due to being the only one able to truly confirm whether he's killed him or not.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_3f6d2c98	type	Cold Sniper
Enemy at the Gates / int_3f6d2c98	comment	Cold Sniper: Averted. Vasily is most certainly not cold and unemotional. Played straight with Major König.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_407d3e6d	type	Morton's Fork
Enemy at the Gates / int_407d3e6d	comment	Morton's Fork: "Here the men's only choices are between German bullets and ours."
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Enemy at the Gates / int_40bb59d0	type	Blatant Lies
Enemy at the Gates / int_40bb59d0	comment	Blatant Lies: The German propaganda broadcasts are clearly these, as the German soldiers in Stalingrad have already established themselves as willing to kill any Soviet soldiers they meet on sight, in contrast to the broadcasts which claim that they'll treat any Soviet soldiers well in captivity.
Enemy at the Gates / int_40bb59d0	featureApplicability	1.0
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Enemy at the Gates / int_40da7cc9	type	Urban Warfare
Enemy at the Gates / int_40da7cc9	comment	Urban Warfare: The film is set during the battle of Stalingrad, with the main characters fighting through the bombed-out ruins of the city.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_43b154c9	type	Not Even Bothering with the Accent
Enemy at the Gates / int_43b154c9	comment	Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Everyone speaks with British or American accents (excluding some of the Germans, who speak German instead of English) rather than attempt Russian and German accents to stand in for foreign languages. In the commentary track, the director notes that this allows characters to show that they are from different regions and walks of life. It also sidesteps the language barrier between Konig and the Russians. Some background characters are heard speaking Russian as well in at least one scene.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_44cdd259	type	War Is Glorious
Enemy at the Gates / int_44cdd259	comment	War Is Glorious: "We must publish the army newspaper again and tell magnificent stories - stories that exalt sacrifice, bravery. We must make them believe in a victory. We must give them hope, pride, a desire to fight. Yes, we need to make examples, but examples to follow. What we need are heroes."
Enemy at the Gates / int_44cdd259	featureApplicability	1.0
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Enemy at the Gates / int_474e3977	type	You Have Failed Me
Enemy at the Gates / int_474e3977	comment	Played straight when Khrushchev hands a gun to an officer that has failed to achieve a mission.
Enemy at the Gates / int_474e3977	featureApplicability	1.0
Enemy at the Gates / int_474e3977	featureConfidence	1.0
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Enemy at the Gates / int_479d4e5a	type	Would Hurt a Child
Enemy at the Gates / int_479d4e5a	comment	Would Hurt a Child: Major Konig. When he deduces that Sacha has been feeding him false information and aiding Vasily, he drags him out into a trainyard and, apparently with much regret, lynches the frightened child from the water tower as a lure for Vasily.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_48aac61d	type	Chummy Commies
Enemy at the Gates / int_48aac61d	comment	Chummy Commies: We're meant to root for the main characters as heroic defenders of their homeland, but the Soviet government comes across very poorly, with a few scenes dedicated to portraying it as brutal and poor.
Enemy at the Gates / int_48aac61d	featureApplicability	1.0
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Enemy at the Gates / int_48c99e19	type	Death by Adaptation
Enemy at the Gates / int_48c99e19	comment	Death by Adaptation: You wouldn't believe Kulikov is anything more than a Mauve Shirt, but in fact he is the first person to contribute to the "Zaytsev versus Elite German Sniper" story and lived well past the war.
Enemy at the Gates / int_48c99e19	featureApplicability	1.0
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Enemy at the Gates / int_4ab9c868	type	Pretty Little Headshots
Enemy at the Gates / int_4ab9c868	comment	Pretty Little Headshots: There is no way that German or Soviet rifles of those calibers would create a small hole in someone's head and nothing more.
Enemy at the Gates / int_4ab9c868	featureApplicability	1.0
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Enemy at the Gates / int_4f4190db	type	Sex in a Shared Room
Enemy at the Gates / int_4f4190db	comment	Sex in a Shared Room: Vasily and Tania make love in the crowded Soviet soldiers' bunkers, surrounded by an entire battalion, but keeping their actions discreet enough that nobody seems to notice — except the jealous Danilov.
Enemy at the Gates / int_4f4190db	featureApplicability	1.0
Enemy at the Gates / int_4f4190db	featureConfidence	1.0
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Enemy at the Gates / int_51c5ea2c	type	Sniper Duel
Enemy at the Gates / int_51c5ea2c	comment	Sniper Duel: Zaytsev versus Konig.
Enemy at the Gates / int_51c5ea2c	featureApplicability	1.0
Enemy at the Gates / int_51c5ea2c	featureConfidence	1.0
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Enemy at the Gates / int_537dd8fe	type	Affably Evil
Enemy at the Gates / int_537dd8fe	comment	Affably Evil: Major Erwin König treats Sacha pretty well before killing him.
Enemy at the Gates / int_537dd8fe	featureApplicability	1.0
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Enemy at the Gates / int_56515a39	type	Artistic License â€“ History
Enemy at the Gates / int_56515a39	comment	Artistic License – History: In the opening, a map shows the Third Reich engulfing all of Europe, including Switzerland and Turkey, which they never occupied, and Italy and Spain, which were independent. It also depicts Germany with its mid-war borders at the start, prior to the invasion of Poland (and also leaves out the Soviet invasion of Poland and Romania). The train that brings Vasily to Stalingrad quite clearly has a German locomotive, which the Soviet Union didn't use until after the war. A soldier is shown locking the recruits inside the train car transporting them to the front lines. In reality, Red Army regulations expressly forbade locking train cars, for the obvious reason that doing so would trap soldiers inside. In the scene where Vasili is brought before the cameras at a ceremony in his honor, the "State Anthem of the Soviet Union" can be heard playing. However, the film takes place in 1942, long before the song was even written. Furthermore, the lyrics of the song are actually that of the modified version introduced in 1977. The national anthem of the USSR at the time the film takes place would have been "The Internationale." The film starts with a mass charge, and has another charge latter on. Such charges were never used in Stalingrad due to it being a dense city with little open ground. Instead it was known for its often brutal street-to-street Urban Warfare, with entire battles occurring inside buildings. Zaystev and Koenig are also able to hunt each other over vast empty ruins, which would have been impossible with several million troops and civilians packed into a few square miles. The barrier troops are shown machine-gunning fellow Soviet soldiers en masse as soon as they begin to fall back. In reality, barrier troops were used sparingly, and contemporary sources report them rarely, if ever, shooting to kill, since the Red Army obviously needed every soldier it could get during the desperation of the Nazi onslaught. If any Soviet soldiers were ever executed by their own troops in the manner shown in the film, they would have been part of a penal unit (i.e., a unit of convicts punished with frontline combat duty), and even then, just shooting a soldier without even a drumhead court-martial would have been unlikely. The Battle of Stalingrad ends with a triumphant victory for the Soviets. Stalingrad was actually a Near-Villain Victory with the Germans taking over 90% of the city. It was through another army arriving to encircle the city and a winter siege that caused the Germans to surrender (Hitler ordered the Sixth Army not to surrender and to continue fighting). Zaystev is stated to have been a shepherd in the Urals, is functionally illiterate and is a private and implied to be a conscript. He was actually educated, went to a vocational school for construction and accounting and was a certified rebar layer before joining the Soviet Navy as a technical clerk and rising to the rank of chief petty officer, and was even the head of the Pacific Fleet's finance department. He volunteered to transfer to the Red Army at the start of Operation Barbarossa and became a senior warrant officer.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_5740acf7	type	Chickification
Enemy at the Gates / int_5740acf7	comment	Chickification: In the book, Tania is a borderline Sociopathic Soldier with a mild infatuation with Zaytsev. In the movie, she's a lovesick Damsel in Distress and love interest who occasionally is implied to do some soldiering. In real life, Tania's claims of being a badass sniper at Stalingrad are doubted by some historians so the movie might be closer to the truth in that regard.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_619985d7	type	Sacrificial Lion
Enemy at the Gates / int_619985d7	comment	Sacrificial Lion: Koulikov. He's introduced as a wise-cracking veteran sniper brought in to help Vasily in his hunt for Major König. His sudden death at the hands of their skilled enemy is shown to really rattle Vasily, who begins to take his duel with the German a lot more seriously from that point onwards.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_63d861f8	type	Even Evil Has Loved Ones
Enemy at the Gates / int_63d861f8	comment	Even Evil Has Loved Ones: König had a son, a German lieutenant who was killed early on in the attack on Stalingrad. He kept his son's war medal on him to remember him but gives it to his commanding general near the film’s climax. He presumably wanted his son’s sacrifice to be remembered.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_697b5232	type	Those Wacky Nazis
Enemy at the Gates / int_697b5232	comment	Those Wacky Nazis: Nazis are the villains. A more realistic example as they’re not portrayed as outlandishly evil as in many works but they’re most definitely brutal and lacking in mercy.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_6eb4e408	type	Artistic License â€“ Military
Enemy at the Gates / int_6eb4e408	comment	Artistic License – Military: Bayonets are virtually never used, even in large-scale charges. Red Army doctrine of the time used bayonets quite heavily, and in fact did not issue a sheath for bayonets, leading most soldiers to carry their rifles with the bayonet constantly mounted, or mounted backwards. At the time of the Battle of Stalingrad, the Red Army was not short of rifles, whereas ammunition was in short supply, thus the scene of issuing every soldier a clip of ammo and every other soldier a rifle is the opposite of reality. Troops could be sent into combat with as little as one cartridge, but they were never sent unarmed. The filmmakers might have cribbed this detail from the Imperial Russian Army in the First World War, which did occasionally send troops into battle without rifles due to arms shortages. The charge in the railyard is signaled by a whistle, which the Red Army did not use. NKVD Zagradotryad blocking troops in the charge at the beginning are shown wearing regular Army uniforms instead of NKVD uniforms. Danilov is a Commissar, yet strangely wears an NKVD uniform. Commissars were members of the Red Army and wore Army uniforms. The rank of Commissar was also abolished several weeks before the battle (the role of The Political Officer would continue in the Soviet military, but it would not be its own rank). NKVD Zagradotryad blocking troops machine gun retreating soldiers. While there were executions for desertion and cowardice under Directive 227, these were ordered by court martial and even then were very rare (summary executions were even rarer and were done in secrecy). The usual punishment for an unauthorised retreat was a beating and being sent back, or arrests and usually being sentenced to serve in penal battalions (which did have machine gunners placed behind them) for Cannon Fodder missions and menial tasks such as landmine clearing, or prison camps. Executions in front of other troops was, as Danilov points out, destructive to morale, which Soviet officers were well aware of. Additionally Directive 227 applied to retreats from occupied positions, not charges, and in October 1942, the blocking detachments were quietly disbanded. Koenig has a noncombatant's commemorative medal for World War One veterans — unlikely, though not impossible for a sniper in World War Two to have been a noncombatant in the previous war — but he also has the combatant's version of the World War One Iron Cross, which would have made him ineligible for the noncombatant commemorative medal. Koenig claims his son was in the 116th Infantry Division. The 116th was formed in 1944 and was active in Western Europe. Also the 116th was a Panzer Division. There was a 16th Division which was at Stalingrad and ultimately destroyed in the battle. When troops are transported to Stalingrad at the start, they're locked in train cars. The cars were never locked, to allow them to defend the trains if attacked.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_7335ffa9	type	Grey-and-Gray Morality
Enemy at the Gates / int_7335ffa9	comment	Grey-and-Gray Morality: The factions are pretty brutal, but the morality of the main characters edges more towards this. They're mostly just duty-bound soldiers trying to survive a war or to avenge/protect loved ones, even when they do bad things. Also, neither Vasily or König ever demonstrate any real conviction in respectively in Stalinist or Nazi ideology.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_73f8d546	type	Working-Class Hero
Enemy at the Gates / int_73f8d546	comment	Working-Class Hero: Zaytsev is portrayed as the epitome of the freedom fighter, a peasant pressed into the military at its darkest hour. In Real Life, he had been an experienced hunter, had some education and had previously been a technical clerk in the Soviet Navy in the Pacific Fleet, though he was eventually transferred to the army as a senior warrant officer in 1942, which was at his request. Invoked by Danilov and the Soviet propaganda machine. Vasily honestly wants nothing more than to work in a factory, being a foreman.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_85557b38	type	Reality Is Unrealistic
Enemy at the Gates / int_85557b38	comment	Reality Is Unrealistic: Many critics loudly protested the presence of a love story between Jude Law and Rachel Weisz in the movie, which they felt was an unnecessary 'Hollywood' addition to the gritty sniper duel action. Ironically, the love story actually happened while the sniper duel did not.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_85b3a814	type	Stuka Scream
Enemy at the Gates / int_85b3a814	comment	Stuka dive bombers have the obligatory Stuka Scream. The iconic Jericho Trumpet was removed by this time due to its negative effect on performance.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_875615dd	type	Truth in Television
Enemy at the Gates / int_875615dd	comment	Truth in Television: While the opening scene is over the top, the Soviets did have to ship men and material over the river while subjected to heavy air and artillery fire. The Germans came close to taking the western bank of the river, and the Soviets poured in men and material into the vicious urban combat to keep the Germans in place while they prepared their counter-offensive.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_8acf3a97	type	Spreading Disaster Map Graphic
Enemy at the Gates / int_8acf3a97	comment	Spreading Disaster Map Graphic: The film opens with a graphic showing the German conquest of Europe, ending as the wave of advance gets to Stalingrad.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_91672d3e	type	Children Are Innocent
Enemy at the Gates / int_91672d3e	comment	Children Are Innocent: Not quite. Sacha feeds Vasily all the information he gets out of König, and gives König slightly inaccurate intel on Vasily, but seems to have no idea just how dangerous a situation he's got himself into and volunteered to be a spy because he hero-worships Vasily. Given that the kid's grown up in a war zone and has presumably lost his father to the war, his relative lack of innocence is understandable.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_92370007	type	The Modest Orgasm
Enemy at the Gates / int_92370007	comment	The Modest Orgasm: Justified as Vasily and Tania are trying not to wake up the soldiers sleeping all around them as they have sex.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_928ca2cc	type	You Have Outlived Your Usefulness
Enemy at the Gates / int_928ca2cc	comment	You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Subverted. Commissar Danilov has a report written on Zaytsev's disloyalty, defeatist statements and disillusionment with the Communist cause, but Zaytsev survives and becomes a war hero. Played straight when Khrushchev hands a gun to an officer that has failed to achieve a mission. Also played straight in one early scene where poorly equipped Soviet soldiers are ordered to rush towards a German line. Their assault fails, and the ones who attempt to retreat back are then cut down by their own forces due to Stalin's infamous "Not one step back!" Order 227.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_950bbfa7	type	Take a Third Option
Enemy at the Gates / int_950bbfa7	comment	Take a Third Option: "Give them hope. Here the men's only choices are between German bullets and ours. But there is another way - a way of courage. A way of love of the Motherland".
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Enemy at the Gates / int_96144372	type	Aristocrats Are Evil
Enemy at the Gates / int_96144372	comment	Aristocrats Are Evil: Sort of. König is a Nazi, but at first he's less evil than cold and ruthless in pursuing his task, and his motivation is not personal glory but revenge for the death of his son in the very first days of the battle. Up until he hangs Sacha, he comes off as just a guy doing a job, and he does try to avoid unnecessary evil acts: he knows the whole time that Sacha's selling him out to Vasili, but he tells the kid to stay home where he belongs (and thus out of the way), implying he'd rather not kill him. It just doesn't stop him when Sacha doesn't listen.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_99298c71	type	Better to Die than Be Killed
Enemy at the Gates / int_99298c71	comment	Better to Die than Be Killed: The "Disgraced Officer" version was done in this film. Khruschev is brought into Stalingrad to replace the General who had commanded Soviet forces in their initial disastrous counter-attack against the Germans. Khruschev hands him a pistol and asks "Perhaps you'd prefer to avoid the red tape?" He leaves the office, we hear a gunshot, and then Khruschev introduces himself as the new commander.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_9b54d536	type	Evil Counterpart
Enemy at the Gates / int_9b54d536	comment	Evil Counterpart: König is this to Zaytsev. Both are immensely skilled snipers but are polar opposites in most respects. Zaytsev grew up a poor shepherd in the Ural Mountains who hunted wolves for survival while König is a nobleman from Bavaria who hunted deer for sport. While Zaytsev is an enlisted soldier, König is an officer (a Major to be precise). And while Zaytsev is a Friendly Sniper who gets along with nearly everyone, König is a Cold Sniper that doesn’t seem to care what his comrades think of him.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_9b73b497	type	The Only One Allowed to Defeat You
Enemy at the Gates / int_9b73b497	comment	The Only One Allowed to Defeat You:
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Enemy at the Gates / int_9e0c3153	type	Punctuated! For! Emphasis!
Enemy at the Gates / int_9e0c3153	comment	Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Krushchev wants his soldiers to "Stop! Shitting! Their Pants!"
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Enemy at the Gates / int_a0db7803	type	It's Personal
Enemy at the Gates / int_a0db7803	comment	It's Personal: König's entire reason for going out to Russia to hunt Vasily. His son had died in Stalingrad early on in the battle, and König wants revenge.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_a3c6c2b7	type	"Facing the Bullets" One-Liner
Enemy at the Gates / int_a3c6c2b7	comment	"Facing the Bullets" One-Liner: Danilov before his Heroic Suicide. After stabbing his friend in the back and eventually getting a child killed with his methods, he decides to help Vasily one last time... by ‘showing him where the Major is hiding’.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_a8559a9f	type	RealLife
Enemy at the Gates / int_a8559a9f	comment	Zaytsev is portrayed as the epitome of the freedom fighter, a peasant pressed into the military at its darkest hour. In Real Life, he had been an experienced hunter, had some education and had previously been a technical clerk in the Soviet Navy in the Pacific Fleet, though he was eventually transferred to the army as a senior warrant officer in 1942, which was at his request.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_a9d70c96	type	Icy Blue Eyes
Enemy at the Gates / int_a9d70c96	comment	Icy Blue Eyes: König. Annaud said in the commentary that a big part of why he cast Ed Harris was because of his icy, unusually blue eyes.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_aba51fc7	type	Nazi Nobleman
Enemy at the Gates / int_aba51fc7	comment	Nazi Nobleman: Subverted in that, while König is an aristocrat, he's just in it because he wants revenge for his son, who was killed in the first days of the battle. He doesn't display the typical class-based haughtiness or expresses a belief in the idea of Aryan racial supremacy like such a character typically would.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_ac6ea68c	type	Near-Villain Victory
Enemy at the Gates / int_ac6ea68c	comment	The Battle of Stalingrad ends with a triumphant victory for the Soviets. Stalingrad was actually a Near-Villain Victory with the Germans taking over 90% of the city. It was through another army arriving to encircle the city and a winter siege that caused the Germans to surrender (Hitler ordered the Sixth Army not to surrender and to continue fighting).
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Enemy at the Gates / int_ad1db87c	type	Oh, Crap!
Enemy at the Gates / int_ad1db87c	comment	Oh, Crap!: The last two Germans Vasily kills certainly get one when they realize that in the span of less then thirty seconds, three of their comrades were killed, they are standing in the open, and they had no idea where the shooter was. The final one definitely qualifies when he realized his weapon was not within arms reach (something that EVERY army from WW1 on drills into its soldiers from the moment they start training - NEVER leave your weapon where you cannot quickly grab it and use it). Konig has a very silent one when he realises he’s been duped into leaving his hiding spot and is now in Vasily’s crosshairs. Instead of trying to run or fight back, he accepts his fate with dignity.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_af3ff126	type	Idealized Sex
Enemy at the Gates / int_af3ff126	comment	Idealized Sex: Averted. There's a realistically awkward sex scene between the main protagonist and the love interest. It's awkward because they do it in the subways below Stalingrad, surrounded by sleeping people because it's being used as a bomb shelter, and so they have to try to not wake anybody up and don't have much room for themselves. So they just kinda roll over each other, try to pull down each others' pants and get his penis into her without waking up a guy sleeping a foot away.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_b03634f8	type	Right Through His Pants
Enemy at the Gates / int_b03634f8	comment	Right Through His Pants: There's an extremely awkward sex scene where the only flesh shown is a brief shot of the woman's butt as she pulls her pants down. All other clothing stays on. This one is justified, since they hit were in the midst of an army camp in Russia and were trying not to attract any attention, and it was cold.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_b2e94341	type	Based on a Great Big Lie
Enemy at the Gates / int_b2e94341	comment	Based on a Great Big Lie: Zaytsev and Chernova were real people, and the story of the sniper duel was presented as fact in the non-fiction source book, Enemy at the Gates. However, the veracity of their exploits is doubted by many historians as either Soviet propaganda in the case of Zaytsev or self-promotion in the case of Chernova. The main plot of their battle with Major König and love triangle with Danilov are both regarded as complete inventions. (The only source for the duel with Major König is Zaytsev's memoir and no German documentation even of the existence of Major König has ever been found.)
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Enemy at the Gates / int_b7c312ff	type	Cacophony Cover-Up
Enemy at the Gates / int_b7c312ff	comment	Cacophony Cover Up: Used straight in Vasily Zaytzev's Establishing Character Moment where he dispatches five Germans with five shots purposefully timed to coincide with artillery explosions.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_b8e3f20a	type	Demoted to Extra
Enemy at the Gates / int_b8e3f20a	comment	Demoted to Extra: In the book, Tania is the main "character" of the subplot the movie is based on (the real-life Tania was the one interviewed for the book, after all), with Zaytsev serving as her mentor; the movie focuses entirely on Zaytsev, and demotes Tania to a supporting character. General Paulus is arguably the main character of the book (being the German commander and all), but only has a few seconds of screen time.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_bcd27e37	type	Improbable Aiming Skills
Enemy at the Gates / int_bcd27e37	comment	Improbable Aiming Skills: Although it's justified in that the whole movie is about two exceptional snipers. The German major in particular has some insane skills, including the ability to shoot through a piece of string the hero is trying to use to retrieve his out-of-reach rifle.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_bdf2a460	type	Tragic Dream
Enemy at the Gates / int_bdf2a460	comment	Tragic Dream: Danilov has made his career as The Political Officer in the Red Army, but after trying to pull a Uriah Gambit on Vasily and then believing Tania to be dead, he admits that he no longer believes in the socialist cause.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_c3585f4a	type	Boom, Headshot!
Enemy at the Gates / int_c3585f4a	comment	Boom, Headshot!: The preferred method of killing by both Zaytsev and Konig. Practically all of their kills on-screen have them shot in the head, one way or another.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_c86a6f38	type	Cannon Fodder
Enemy at the Gates / int_c86a6f38	comment	NKVD Zagradotryad blocking troops machine gun retreating soldiers. While there were executions for desertion and cowardice under Directive 227, these were ordered by court martial and even then were very rare (summary executions were even rarer and were done in secrecy). The usual punishment for an unauthorised retreat was a beating and being sent back, or arrests and usually being sentenced to serve in penal battalions (which did have machine gunners placed behind them) for Cannon Fodder missions and menial tasks such as landmine clearing, or prison camps. Executions in front of other troops was, as Danilov points out, destructive to morale, which Soviet officers were well aware of. Additionally Directive 227 applied to retreats from occupied positions, not charges, and in October 1942, the blocking detachments were quietly disbanded.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_c9868780	type	Playing Possum
Enemy at the Gates / int_c9868780	comment	Playing Possum: Played straight with two characters both pretending to be dead in order to eliminate a German officer. On the other hand, the German soldiers were bayoneting corpses just in case.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_ca52cc92	type	Canned Orders over Loudspeaker
Enemy at the Gates / int_ca52cc92	comment	Canned Orders over Loudspeaker: Used during the battle of Stalingrad by the Red Army as a means to bolster morale. The Germans also use it as a means of propaganda, in order to lower Soviet morale and entice Soviet soldiers to surrender to them.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_ca895242	type	Officer and a Gentleman
Enemy at the Gates / int_ca895242	comment	Officer and a Gentleman: König, insofar as it's possible to be in Stalingrad. He's unfailingly polite (which gets downright creepy in his last scenes with Sacha, telling the kid he doesn't blame him for being a spy on behalf of his country. This just before he hangs the boy to draw out Vasily). And, as Rex Reed said, he seems to be the only character in the entire movie who has access to a bar of soap.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_ce1c73e2	type	Just Plane Wrong
Enemy at the Gates / int_ce1c73e2	comment	Just Plane Wrong: Stuka dive bombers have the obligatory Stuka Scream. The iconic Jericho Trumpet was removed by this time due to its negative effect on performance. German bombers fly much lower than is safe for bombing runs. They would be damaged by the bomb blasts.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_d001c42c	type	Anti-Villain
Enemy at the Gates / int_d001c42c	comment	Anti-Villain: Major König. He's hunting down Vasily and killing his friends, but he's involved in a brutal war which naturally requires him to kill, doesn't engage in atrocities himself until he hangs Sacha, and that's for being a spy, disapproves of torture as shown when he's told of Volodya's capture, and has only come to Stalingrad to avenge the death of his son.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_d46f812	type	Tastes Like Friendship
Enemy at the Gates / int_d46f812	comment	Tastes Like Friendship: Subverted, where the German Cold Sniper was paying a child spy in chocolate bars (to be fair to the kid, it was German chocolate.) The kid was actually a Double Agent, working with the Soviets to feed false information to the German sniper to try and put him in The Hero's scope. It ends badly for him. The really harsh part is that Konig knew Sasha was a double agent the entire time. Vasilu's smart enough to realize he would, and that sooner or later it was going to end badly: it's why he blows up at Danilov for encouraging the kid.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_d935ee2f	type	Innocent Blue Eyes
Enemy at the Gates / int_d935ee2f	comment	Innocent Blue Eyes: Vasili also has blue eyes, but his are the innocent, good-guy variety.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_db1115f9	type	Shooting Lessons From Your Parents
Enemy at the Gates / int_db1115f9	comment	Shooting Lessons From Your Parents: The Cold Open of the film has Soviet sniper Vasily Zaytsev as a child hunting in the woods with his grandfather, who urges him to shoot at a wolf.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_db39ccfd	type	Battle Couple
Enemy at the Gates / int_db39ccfd	comment	Battle Couple: Two of the snipers working with Zaytsev early in the film. They both die soon after being introduced. Tanya and Vasily themselves become this later on. This is especially evident during one encounter with Major Konig, as she manages to help him defeat the Major (non-lethally).
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Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Enemy at the Gates / int_db39ccfd
Enemy at the Gates / int_def127cc	type	Leave Behind a Pistol
Enemy at the Gates / int_def127cc	comment	Leave Behind a Pistol
Enemy at the Gates / int_def127cc	featureApplicability	1.0
Enemy at the Gates / int_def127cc	featureConfidence	1.0
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Enemy at the Gates / int_def127cc
Enemy at the Gates / int_e11b003d	type	Translation Convention
Enemy at the Gates / int_e11b003d	comment	Translation Convention: Russian and German are both portrayed as English, and no one uses Russian or German accents to stand in for the translation.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_e11b003d	featureConfidence	1.0
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Enemy at the Gates / int_e4b69188	type	Very Loosely Based on a True Story
Enemy at the Gates / int_e4b69188	comment	Very Loosely Based on a True Story: Besides the Based on a Great Big Lie main plot, other liberties were taken. The film makes a common error in the Western view of the Battle of Stalingrad, and even the whole war (perhaps in large part because of this movie)—the worst equipped units in the Red Army, including those in Stalingrad, did not lack rifles but the ammunition for them. This becomes pretty obvious in hindsight, once you consider the logistical nightmare of war in general, and the fact that the Soviet Union, following the German invasion, was practically swimming in guns. The real-life Tania was wounded and was separated from Zaytsev. She later found out (correctly) that he had been injured by a landmine, and that (incorrectly) he had died of his wounds. She only discovered that Zaytsev had survived and married someone else when she was interviewed by the book's author. The news devastated her, for she never married and still loved Zaytsev. In a sickeningly ironic twist, Tania had also been wounded by a landmine on an assassination mission, and Zaytsev was told that she had died. Since the author never interviewed him, it's likely that he never found out unless he read the book. The film takes considerable liberties with future First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev's role at Stalingrad. Vasily's rank is given as private in the film, whereas the real Vasily was a navy Chief who was given the rank of Senior Warrant Officer upon transfer to the army. The snow in the mouth trick from Vasily's backstory is cribbed from Simo Häyhä's backstory. See Kulikov mentioned above; the movie also depicts someone implied to be Ludmilla Pavlochenko as a one-off teammate of Zaytsev, who was last seen shot in the mouth. It's a survivable wound (Hayha did), but the historical Pavlochenko was never maimed in this way.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_e663d3ef	type	Only a Flesh Wound
Enemy at the Gates / int_e663d3ef	comment	Only a Flesh Wound: Zaytsev shoots König at the base of the index finger of his left hand with a 7.62mm rifle from less than 100 meters. We see a little splotch of blood, and König spends the rest of the movie with his hand wrapped in gauze. In reality, a shot from a rifle of that caliber at a range that close would have taken his index finger off, and very likely the middle finger with it.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_e663d3ef	featureConfidence	1.0
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Enemy at the Gates / int_e81f5639	type	Moe Greene Special
Enemy at the Gates / int_e81f5639	comment	Moe Greene Special: Vasily finally kills König by shooting him straight through his right eye.
Enemy at the Gates / int_e81f5639	featureApplicability	1.0
Enemy at the Gates / int_e81f5639	featureConfidence	1.0
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Enemy at the Gates / int_e9a3a1ed	type	Never Learned to Read
Enemy at the Gates / int_e9a3a1ed	comment	Never Learned to Read: Vasily is illiterate at the start until Danilov teaches him to read and write.
Enemy at the Gates / int_e9a3a1ed	featureApplicability	1.0
Enemy at the Gates / int_e9a3a1ed	featureConfidence	1.0
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Enemy at the Gates / int_e9f517e1	type	Artistic License â€“ Geography
Enemy at the Gates / int_e9f517e1	comment	Artistic License – Geography: Zaystev was a shepherd in the Urals. The Ural Mountains have very few pastures and animal husbandry in the Upper Urals is virtually non-existant. The train that brings the troops to Stalingrad at the beginning stops right at the bank of the river. The tracks actually end several miles from the river and they had to march or be transported by truck or cart to the river.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_e9f79e23	type	Screw the War, We're Partying
Enemy at the Gates / int_e9f79e23	comment	Screw the War, We're Partying: The Soviet soldiers party because they're happy they're alive for another day and may be dead tomorrow.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_f1492605	type	Redemption Equals Death
Enemy at the Gates / int_f1492605	comment	Redemption Equals Death: Danilov exposes himself to draw out König, as one final act of friendship towards Vasily, after trying to destroy his image with the Soviets.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_f1d6144a	type	War Is Hell
Enemy at the Gates / int_f1d6144a	comment	War Is Hell: Despite the above quote by Danilov and pals. After all, it's the freaking Battle of Stalingrad...
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Enemy at the Gates / int_f97df10b	type	The World's Expert (on Getting Killed)
Enemy at the Gates / int_f97df10b	comment	The World's Expert (on Getting Killed): Kulikov is brought in as a new partner for Vasily to help take down Konig as he was actually trained by Konig himself and knows how he operates. Konig instinctively realizes that he's being lured into a trap and kills Kulikov during his first mission with Vasily.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_fb6b207f	type	You Killed My Father
Enemy at the Gates / int_fb6b207f	comment	You Killed My Father: Tania is desperate to serve on the front lines rather than military intelligence because she received news that her parents were deported and killed by the Germans for being Jews.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_fe614133	type	Beauty Is Never Tarnished
Enemy at the Gates / int_fe614133	comment	Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted. Tania and the other women soldiers are just as filthy and unkempt as the men.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_ff7f34c5	type	Pet the Dog
Enemy at the Gates / int_ff7f34c5	comment	Pet the Dog: Konig tells Sascha to stay home, so he won't have to kill him for being a spy. Sascha doesn't listen, and Konig kills him and hangs him out for bait.
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Enemy at the Gates / int_ffad4e9f	type	Shown Their Work
Enemy at the Gates / int_ffad4e9f	comment	Shown Their Work: While the film runs on various Artistic Licenses and is Very Loosely Based on a True Story that was already a propaganda piece, the very first sniping scene with Zaytsev hidden in the fountain is widely acclaimed as some of the better portray of marksmanship ever filmed. It gets right down to the tiny details, like Zaytsev accounting for parallax shift of his sights and using sling for additional support, making it clear someone really thought out that scene and consulted with a real marksman. Unfortunately, this creates a rather jarring comparison with the rest of the movie.
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

EnemyattheGates	sameAs	Enemy at the Gates
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Ate His Gun / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Based on a Great Big Lie / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Blinded by the Light / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Buried in a Pile of Corpses / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Cacophony Cover-Up / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Canned Orders over Loudspeaker / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Chummy Commies / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Cold Sniper / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Disguised Hostage Gambit / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Epic Movie / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Fake Russian / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Graceful Loser / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Heroic Suicide / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Icy Blue Eyes / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Idealized Sex / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Leave Behind a Pistol / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Make Sure He's Dead / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Mistaken Death Confirmation / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Moe Greene Special / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Nazi Nobleman / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Obi-Wan Moment / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Obligatory War Crime Scene / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Ordered to Die / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Playing Possum / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Prepositional Phrase Equals Coolness / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Propaganda Hero / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Right Through His Pants / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Romantic Plot Tumor / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Scope Snipe / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Screw the War, We're Partying / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Sex in a Shared Room / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Sniper Duel / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Sniper Scope Glint / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Spreading Disaster Map Graphic / int_d3b72b58
Stalingrad	seeAlso	Enemy at the Gates
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Straight for the Commander / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Stuka Scream / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	The Immodest Orgasm / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	The Modest Orgasm / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	The Queen's Latin / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	The World's Expert (on Getting Killed) / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Those Wacky Nazis / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Throw-Away Guns / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Tragic Dream / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Urban Warfare / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	Where's My Gun? / int_d3b72b58
Enemy at the Gates	hasFeature	World's Best Warrior / int_d3b72b58

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