Enemy at the Gates is a 2001 American War thriller film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud. The film's title is taken from William Craig's nonfiction book Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad (1973), which describes the events surrounding the Battle of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942/43. Although fictional, the film is loosely based on war stories told by Soviet sniper Vasily Zaytsev.