Directed by: Jean-Jacques Annaud
Starring: Ed Harris, Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, Joseph Fiennes
Visible crew/equipment: When the Russian army rushes through to the Germans, you can see a camera crew briefly on the right. (00:13:30)
Visible crew/equipment: After it has been discovered Sacha is dead, Tania is arguing with Vassilli. He is trying to prevent her from running to him. The camera gets close to the action and the shadow of its operator is blatantly visible on the actors.
Factual error: When Kruschev and Vasy go to the press meeting the Soviet National Anthem is playing in the background. The actual anthem was not written until January of 1944, a year after the Battle of Stalingrad. In addition, the song sung is the 1977 lyrics. The lyrics used in 1944 were slightly different. See http://www.skazka.no/anthems/ for more info.
Vassili Zaitsev: He doesn't know you exist, but at that moment you're closer to him than anyone else on earth. You see his face through the sign. You see whether he shaved or not. You can see whether he's married if he's got a wedding ring. It's not like firing at a distant shape. It's not just a uniform. It's a man's face. Those faces don't go away. They come back and they get replaced by more faces.
Question: If Jude Law as Vasily Zaytsev is the protagonist, then why is Joseph Fiennes the first-billed actor of the movie?
Answer: They almost share the same amount of screen time, but Jude Law is a tad younger and Joseph was coming off a very successful 'Shakespeare in Love' as well as 'Elizabeth'. He was a more marketable actor at the time.
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Answer: For the same reason Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman were top billed in Superman. He was a bigger name and his agent was able to negotiate a better deal.