quick dog
Starter
Enemy at the Gates is not a new movie, but I have read the book and seen the movie more than once. We could be talking about Saving Private Ryan, U-754, or Band of Brothers, but the issue at hand is the historic accuracy of Enemy at the Gates, and how movie directors portray historic events.
Directors seldom portray history accurately. Why do they feel that they have to modify historic events? I think it is based in their massively inflated Hollywood egos. Movie people apparently believe that they can improve on real life. In my opinion, the movie people are almost always wrong, and to me, movie story-lines suffer accordingly.
One would have to be a history geek to read further, so be forewarned.
The movie Enemy at the Gates begins absolutely congruent with WWII history. It is the story of Vasilli Zaitsev, a famous Russian sniper, and a duel he had with a famous german sniper. The opening scene with troop-boats and barges crossing the Volga was probably very accurate. The battle scenes were terrific.
Then the movie director introduced Nikita Kruschev as the Soviet replacement for the existing regional commander. That never occurred. I believe that Kruschev, who eventually replaced Josef Stalin as the Soviet Premier, was a political officer with the Belorussian front in Poland at the time. Why did the director insert Kruschev? Did the producer believe Americans and Europeans might recognize that name?
The real Soviet Marshall to assume command at Stalingrad was Deputy Supreme Commander of the Red Army, Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov, who history recognizes as perhaps the most important military leader of the European WWII theatre, if not the world. This was an extraordinary switch of historic personalities. Again, to what purpose?
The movie continues realistically until the introduction of another important character, Tania Chernova. Chernova was incredibly interesting, and probably should have been the protagonist of the movie.
In the movie, Tania Chernova was portrayed by actress Rachael Weitz as a Russian-Jewish journalist. In the movie, Tania has a brief affair with Vasilli Zaitsev, runs around a while with a Mosin-Nagant rifle, is wounded by a German artillery round, and sent to a military hospital. Vasilli eventually finds her, yada, yada, yada. Bland and boring.
The real story is far more interesting.
Unbelievably, the real Tania Chernova was an American, born in New York City! She was a Russian-American medical student and prospective ballerina. She was intelligent, tall, blonde, good looking, and only 19 years old at the time. She traveled to the Soviet Union before WWII to bring her grandparents back to America. Unfortunately, the Germans attacked while she was in Russia. The Germans slaughtered her grandparents, so she immediately joined a band of Russian partisans. She fought the Germans, later joined the Soviet Army, and was ultimately shipped to Stalingrad.
While crossing the Volga in one of those little troop boats, her boat took a direct German artillery shot. She and two male Russian soldiers were blown into the River. They swam to the western shore of the River in the dark, cold, water. They wandered along the western bank of the Volga, completely lost in enemy territory. They ultimately entered a large sewer main at the River’s edge and waded through the sewer to the middle of Stalingrad. They climbed to the surface through a manhole, and observed a long line of German soldiers lined up to eat dinner. It was dark.
Tania, being hungry, dirty, and cold, and very bold, simply got into the chow line with the German soldiers. She sat down at one of their tables and began eating. Everyone around her was soon upset by the overwhelming fecal stench. Finally, a German officer recognized that she was indeed a Soviet Army private! As he was preparing to sort her out, a Russian prisoner-cook ran out from the kitchen and convinced the officer that she was part of the cooking staff. The cook shoved her to the kitchen, fed her something, ran her out the back door, and she passed through the battle line to the Soviet zone. They gave her a new uniform. (It is useful to understand that Germans and Russians both routinely shot enemy soldiers, civilians, and even their own troops for next to nothing. Tania's courage was astounding)
Tania was transferred to a sniper company and received training from the famous sniper Vasilli Zaitsev. They had a major love affair while she whacked at least 45 Germans, whom she referred to as “sticks”. She was sent out with a small group of snipers to assassinate Field Marshall Friedrich von Paulus, the German Army commander. On the way to find Paulus, a Russian woman-soldier walking in front of Tania stepped on an anti-personnel mine. The blast missed the fat woman whom Tania referred to as a “cow”, but shredded Tania’s groin area. Vasilli carried Tania to a field hospital and everyone thought that she would die.
Later, Vasilli Zaitsev was severely wounded by another mine. Tania, while in the hospital, was told that he had died. Tania, who never married because of her love for Vasilli, was interviewed in 1969 by the author of the book Enemy at the Gates. In 1969, she still referred to Germans as “sticks”. She was also shocked to learn that Vasilli had actually survived the war, married another woman, and lived for many years as a Hero of the Motherland.
If this isn’t a good movie story, I’ve never read one. Can you imagine telling the story of Stalingrad from the view of an educated and beautiful Russian-American sniper? Why did the director of the movie neglect all this stuff. Other movies have similar problems.
Directors seldom portray history accurately. Why do they feel that they have to modify historic events? I think it is based in their massively inflated Hollywood egos. Movie people apparently believe that they can improve on real life. In my opinion, the movie people are almost always wrong, and to me, movie story-lines suffer accordingly.
One would have to be a history geek to read further, so be forewarned.
The movie Enemy at the Gates begins absolutely congruent with WWII history. It is the story of Vasilli Zaitsev, a famous Russian sniper, and a duel he had with a famous german sniper. The opening scene with troop-boats and barges crossing the Volga was probably very accurate. The battle scenes were terrific.
Then the movie director introduced Nikita Kruschev as the Soviet replacement for the existing regional commander. That never occurred. I believe that Kruschev, who eventually replaced Josef Stalin as the Soviet Premier, was a political officer with the Belorussian front in Poland at the time. Why did the director insert Kruschev? Did the producer believe Americans and Europeans might recognize that name?
The real Soviet Marshall to assume command at Stalingrad was Deputy Supreme Commander of the Red Army, Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov, who history recognizes as perhaps the most important military leader of the European WWII theatre, if not the world. This was an extraordinary switch of historic personalities. Again, to what purpose?
The movie continues realistically until the introduction of another important character, Tania Chernova. Chernova was incredibly interesting, and probably should have been the protagonist of the movie.
In the movie, Tania Chernova was portrayed by actress Rachael Weitz as a Russian-Jewish journalist. In the movie, Tania has a brief affair with Vasilli Zaitsev, runs around a while with a Mosin-Nagant rifle, is wounded by a German artillery round, and sent to a military hospital. Vasilli eventually finds her, yada, yada, yada. Bland and boring.
The real story is far more interesting.
Unbelievably, the real Tania Chernova was an American, born in New York City! She was a Russian-American medical student and prospective ballerina. She was intelligent, tall, blonde, good looking, and only 19 years old at the time. She traveled to the Soviet Union before WWII to bring her grandparents back to America. Unfortunately, the Germans attacked while she was in Russia. The Germans slaughtered her grandparents, so she immediately joined a band of Russian partisans. She fought the Germans, later joined the Soviet Army, and was ultimately shipped to Stalingrad.
While crossing the Volga in one of those little troop boats, her boat took a direct German artillery shot. She and two male Russian soldiers were blown into the River. They swam to the western shore of the River in the dark, cold, water. They wandered along the western bank of the Volga, completely lost in enemy territory. They ultimately entered a large sewer main at the River’s edge and waded through the sewer to the middle of Stalingrad. They climbed to the surface through a manhole, and observed a long line of German soldiers lined up to eat dinner. It was dark.
Tania, being hungry, dirty, and cold, and very bold, simply got into the chow line with the German soldiers. She sat down at one of their tables and began eating. Everyone around her was soon upset by the overwhelming fecal stench. Finally, a German officer recognized that she was indeed a Soviet Army private! As he was preparing to sort her out, a Russian prisoner-cook ran out from the kitchen and convinced the officer that she was part of the cooking staff. The cook shoved her to the kitchen, fed her something, ran her out the back door, and she passed through the battle line to the Soviet zone. They gave her a new uniform. (It is useful to understand that Germans and Russians both routinely shot enemy soldiers, civilians, and even their own troops for next to nothing. Tania's courage was astounding)
Tania was transferred to a sniper company and received training from the famous sniper Vasilli Zaitsev. They had a major love affair while she whacked at least 45 Germans, whom she referred to as “sticks”. She was sent out with a small group of snipers to assassinate Field Marshall Friedrich von Paulus, the German Army commander. On the way to find Paulus, a Russian woman-soldier walking in front of Tania stepped on an anti-personnel mine. The blast missed the fat woman whom Tania referred to as a “cow”, but shredded Tania’s groin area. Vasilli carried Tania to a field hospital and everyone thought that she would die.
Later, Vasilli Zaitsev was severely wounded by another mine. Tania, while in the hospital, was told that he had died. Tania, who never married because of her love for Vasilli, was interviewed in 1969 by the author of the book Enemy at the Gates. In 1969, she still referred to Germans as “sticks”. She was also shocked to learn that Vasilli had actually survived the war, married another woman, and lived for many years as a Hero of the Motherland.
If this isn’t a good movie story, I’ve never read one. Can you imagine telling the story of Stalingrad from the view of an educated and beautiful Russian-American sniper? Why did the director of the movie neglect all this stuff. Other movies have similar problems.
