1. SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN
THE DESIGN SCHOOL
FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT
NAME: Gan Jet Foong
STUDENT ID NO: 0315998
FILMS SELECTED: Pearl Harbor & Enemy at the Gates
WORD COUNT: 729
ENGLISH 2 (ENGL 0205)
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE – CONTRAST ESSAY
LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA
SUBMISSION DATE: 18th APRIL 2014

2. Films that based on true stories
Nowadays, many people often study history through watching movies that based
on true stories rather than reading books, thus, that makes the making of films based on
actual events increased in popularity. Many of us also learned to appreciate the directors'
contribution for trying to film the movies that would fulfill the same criteria, however,
not all movies have remained true to the event or the characters they are portraying. In
fact, they added action and drama to increase the popularity of the movies. In 2001, there
are two famous movies that are based war stories were truly outstanding which are Pearl
Harbor and Enemy at the Gates. These two movies brings us back to the tragedy event of
World War II where we can find both sorrowful and also romantic scene during the time
of war. The movies' event may be occurred in the same time but they are half a world
apart, Pearl Harbor was based on the event in Hawaii when the Japanese launch a sudden
strike in Pearl Harbor, meanwhile Enemy at the Gates are in Soviet Russia that was
invaded by Nazi Germany during that time. Even thought these are two different events,
yet, the similarities can be found between these two movies in terms of friendship,
patriotism, romance and vengeance.
First and foremost, the value of friendship is quite similar in these two movies.
In Pearl Harbor, Rafe McCawley and Danny Walker were best friends since childhood,
they always help each other when facing problems. For example, one time Rafe climbed
into Danny's father biplane and accidentally started it. Soon Danny's father saw what
happened and beats Danny, Rafe tried to protect Danny and hits Danny's father with an
old propeller. ''You leave him alone, I will bust you open!'' Rafe threatens to beat him
further. In Enemy at the Gates, Vasili Zaytsev in the same way save his friend, Danilov
who was struggling when he was found out by the enemy. Even in an intense moment,
Vasili shot all the five enemies alone with his skillful marksmanship. These two scenes
has illustrated how the characters have proven their friendship when in trouble.
Next, the term of patriotism is greatly shown between both films. We could saw
that Rafe and Danny wanted to become pilots to fight for their country in their childhood.
This is clearly explain in the beginning of the movie, both of them admired Danny's
father who fought in World War I for the country, and were extremely inspired to become
pilots in the US Air Force when they grow up. Commonly, Vasili join in the Red Army
and fought the Germans even it was impossible to win. Later on, he joined the sniper
team which was perfectly fit for his talents to fight for his country. These two parts have
shown their spirit of patriotism to fight for their country.
Another similarity is the complicating romance between these two films. Rafe
was the first to begun a relationship with the beautiful nurse named Evelyn, both of them
were deeply love with each other. During one battle, Rafe was reported killed in action,
poor Evelyn was devastated and Danny tried to comfort Evelyn. Soon, they realized they
developed feelings for each other. Comparable to Vasili and Danilov, they were both
romantically interested in Tania, a Private in the militia. Danilov always made effort to
get closer to Tania, but he got too much troubling work all the time. In the end, Tania

3. chose Vasili in stead of Danilov. These two romance marks the complication of love in
these two film.
Last but not least, vengeance are also common in the two films. Rafe and
Danny joined the special operation squad to get revenge on the Japanese for attacking
Pearl Harbor, they flew together with the squad to bomb tokyo city. Similarly, Vasili
vowed to kill Konig who shot his former student and also other friends. He lured Konig
to a trap and shot him in the face to avenge them. Vengeance are clearly illustrated in
these two events.
In conclusion, we have learned various things in these two films, there can be
many events happened in a war even in different places. The movies that based on true
storied are truly educating and also entertaining, we also must learn what can be practice
from a movie to avoid any consequences.

4. Reference List
Moorhead, J. 1942 "Attack on Pearl Harbor", The Journal of the American
Medical Association. Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor
Varens, H. (2003, July 13). Favourite Blockbuster. Retrieved from
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0213149/?ref_=nv_sr_3