10 MORE War Movie Plot Twists Nobody Saw Coming

"We tried so hard to create a society that was equal...but there's always something to envy."

Set at the height of the Battle of Stalingrad, 2001's Enemy at the Gates offers a dramatised account of the legendary game of cat and mouse between Soviet sniper Vasily Zaitsev and his Wehrmacht counterpart, Erwin König.

Played by Jude Law, Zaitsev's closest friend and confidante is Joseph Fiennes' Commissar Danilov - a relationship that eventually sours over the pair's competing affections for Rachel Weisz's Tania Chernova. Casting his friendship with Vasily aside over Zaitsev's perceived betrayal, the commissar even disparages Law's sniper in a letter to his superiors.

By the time the film's closing act rolls around, Danilov's character arc from wingman to "Grade A weasel" seems locked in - until Tania is seemingly killed on her way to the evacuation boats. Danilov's slide into villainous territory is abruptly halted, with the political officer subsequently consumed with guilt over his jealousy of Vasily.

With all that being said, few viewers were likely prepared for just how far Fiennes' character was willing to go to redeem himself. In a heartbreaking turn of events, Danilov deliberately exposes himself to König after making his final apologies, tricking the German into shooting him and revealing his position to Vasily.