Enemy at the Gates: A Reaction

In the name of the Soviet Union, not a step backwards, or we shoot!

The movie, Enemy at the Gates is about the Battle of Stalingrad in World War 2. This
battle was between the Germans and the Red Army of Soviet Russia. It tells the story of Vasili, a
Soviet sniper, and his duel with Major Konig, a German sniper.

They said that the Battle of Stalingrad was one of the bloodiest battles in history. The film
did justice on bloodiest battle seeing that at the first few minutes, there was already so much
blood, so many soldiers being shot and squirting blood everywhere. It was horrible.

It was all very confusing at first. The first part of the movie showed how soldiers were
transported on a boat, how some of them were killed, and how the survivors were then led to
battle with shortage of rifles. Those without rifles were ordered to just pick up the rifles of their
fallen comrades. Also, it seemed that those soldiers were quite inexperienced, seeing how most
of them died in the first few seconds after they charged the enemy. This makes me think that
Russia at that time was probably really poor and lacked resources, or that maybe their
government did not really care about whatever happens to the soldiers they send for battle.
According to others though, this issue on the shortage of rifles was false. The way this was
portrayed in the movie was meant to make socialism and the whole Soviet Union look
inefficient.

On another note, the movie did not give much importance on Russian women
combatants. In history, we have learned that there were a lot of Russian women in the army
during that time, and that these women have killed so many. In the movie though, there were
more males, and even if there were women, they got killed early, like the sniper women who
went with Vasili on a mission. This just portrays women to be weak and not suited for battle,
since they die easily. This is not true though.

One other disturbing thing I saw in the movie was how the Russians shot their soldiers
who were retreating. According to them, this was ordered by Stalin. I tried to research on this if it
was true, and there was indeed an Order 227 by Stalin, otherwise called Not a Step Backward.
However, this was said to have been misinterpreted. Apparently, the soldiers were shot not for
retreating or falling back, but because of abandoning their post without orders. Stalins order was
to prevent panic. The movie may have exaggerated this order, portraying the Red Army to be
very ruthless with no regard to loss of human lives.

They were portrayed to be extreme chauvinists, and that they had to do everything for
Stalin. They believed that they were fighting to save the motherland from the Germans Nazism.
There should be no falling back for the motherland. They kept saying, Go forward, not a step
backwards and It is either victory or death and There will be no mercy for cowards or
traitors! It kind of portrays the Red Army as a group of people whose only care in the world was
to fight for Stalin and Russia no matter what.

Usually in movies, the protagonists are supposed to be the good people. However in
this movie, even though it was made in the point of view of the Russians, and with the
protagonist as a Russian, I still could not really say that the Russians were the good people in
this film. They may have won the battle, but they did it through very ruthless means. But I guess
that is what happens during war. You have to do everything you can, not just to survive, but to
win.

Anyway, since the movie was only loosely based on a true story, I cannot be entirely sure
as to which of those events are false and are just made up or exaggerated. Besides, I have not
read enough on Russian history to identify all the historical inaccuracies portrayed in the film.
One thing I am sure though, is that hope is a very important thing. Just like in that battle, hope
can make the difference between giving up, or getting up and trying again.

Camille Savillo
BS Economics IV