Enemy at the Gates

Enemy at the Gates is a movie directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud in 2001, adapted from a book written by William Craig which loosely described events surrounding World War II Soviet sniper Vasily Zaitsev and his German rival, Major König, during the Battle of Stalingrad, 1942-1943. Another book called The War of the Rats formed the basis for the sniper duel element of the screenplay.

Solecism

• When Vasily Zaitsev was embraced by Nikita Khrushchev in a press conference, shown at 49:42 of the movie in the DVD release, a 1977 revised version of Soviet Union's national hymn was played in the background, instead of the 1943 version, in contradictory of the time of events reflected in the film. At 50:17 in the movie, the song sang, ?????? ?????? ? ???? ????????; during the Great Patriotic War, the lyrics should read, ????? ?????????, ????? ????????. See National Anthem of the Soviet Union