Enemy at the gates
Enemy at the Gates is the story of two enemy snipers in WWII.
In World War II, the fall of Stalingrad will mean the collapse of the whole country. The Germans and Russians are fighting over every block, leaving only ruins behind. The Russian sniper Vassili Zaitsev stalks the Germans, taking them out one by one, thus hurting the morale of the German troops. The political officer Danilov leads him on, publishing his efforts to give his countrymen some hope. But Vassili eventually start to feel that he can not live up to the expectations on him. He and Danilov fall in love with the same girl, Tanya, a female soldier. From Germany comes the master sniper König to put an end to the extraordinary skilled Russian sniper.
Gabriel plays the part of real-life Sacha Filipov a young cobbler's apprentice who works as a double agent between Vassili and Konig. He won A LOT of praise for his performance.
If you want to know what happens to his character, watch it. I won't spoil it here, but maybe one to miss if you take movies to heart! You can see a 2 minute clip of Gabriel in Enemy At The Gates by clicking here.
"A very good movie indeed, strengthened by the ruthless depiction of the real historical circumstances as a background. Gabriel actually had a very important part, thus he was able to transmit his talent and his skills in some outstanding sequences. He kind of shone in the midst of utter destruction and the brutalities of war. His performance was straight; he was even able to attach some sort of emotional edge to the story, and his ultimate fate serves as a symbol for the cruelties of warfare."
"Love the smiles and worshipful glances Gabriel's character gives to Jude Law's. Can't help but suspect that that hero worship ran over into real life."
"Gabriel Thomson is fantastic, as an actor, and with expression and smile. His character in this movie is very heroic, too, and I think this is a Must Watch movie, just because of him."
In the directors commentary of Enemy at the Gates, Jean-Jaques Annaud says that Gabriel is one of the most dedicated and proffessional actors he has ever worked with. He says that Gabriel hardly ever missed a line and when he did he would be frustrated to tears with himself. On set, Gabriel apparently also had a good relationship with Ed Harris (who plays the German sniper).
