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Sophie Scholl - The Final Days [2005]
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RRP: £19.99
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Extremely Thought Provoking
Review date: 2008-07-13 Rating: 10 out of 10
I thought that this DVD was extremely thought provoking and made me think 'what if'. The acting in the DVD was extremely good, but I would recommend that if you are going to buy it read the book first as it gives an understanding which is beneficial in appreciating the events that lead to the arrests and trial.
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Reviews
Sophie Scholl - Powerful insight into Germany 1943.
Review date: 2008-04-08 Rating: 8 out of 10
This film was not what I was expecting. It spends its whole 115 minute running time concerned generally with the arrest, interrogation and aftermath of Sophie Scholl and her brother Hans. I went into it expecting more information on the background of the group, more on their rise but this doesn't happen (subsequently found out there is another film on this in German called The White Rose). I'm not saying this makes the film any worse - it probably makes it better.
Sophie is brilliantly portrayed; the second hour is most definitely more gripping and suspenseful. Once the proper interrogation occurs and Sophie stands to her morals you see the horrors of the Nazi belief and those who fell so deeply into the Hitler way of belief. The way Sophie stands up to her interrogators shows the true power of the movie and that even in the most darkest times there were people who stood up for Freedom at all costs.
I certainly believe the end and aftermath raise the movie and how it makes you feel about it, from a good movie to a very powerful, visionary one.
I've only recently discovered my interest in WWII based film and Sophie Scholl added a different angle to the viewing, from the German perspective about normal German youth's anti-Hitler beliefs and what happened to them. This film certainly makes good viewing for people interested in WWII but I'd be hard pressed to recommend it to anyone looking for a more conventional movie. People with a legal or history background will find this movie well worth watching. If you arrive here directly after watching Downfall, enjoy but be prepared that this is a different experience.
Elegiac and moving true story
Review date: 2008-02-05 Rating: 10 out of 10
This powerful, lyrical film truly manages to shine a light in the most dismal of settings. A whole-hearted recommendation from me to anyone who appreciates a true story of courage and devotion.
I was instantly struck by the similarities in mood, construction, and symbolism to such French classics as Dreyer's "The Passion of Joan of Arc" and Sandrine Bonnaire's turn as Joan in "Jeanne la Pucelle: Les Prisons." But this movie strikes a much more defiant tone. Julia Jentsch gives a bravura evocation of the remarkable Sophie Scholl. Her character is forthright, steadfast, and hopeful in the face of the Gestapo and the Nazi kangaroo court to which she is condemned. Director Rothemund wisely respects his material enough to allow it to stand on its own merits, without grandstanding or exaggeration. Much of the film takes place in the form of dialogue between Sophie and the other imprisoned resistance leaders and their accusers. It's a spare but effective presentation, given depth by the nuanced and faithful performances of the cast and the striking photography. There's a stately Greek drama quality to it; Sophocles could have written something very similar.
A lesson for our own times from the darkest days of WWII, when an undaunted band of German students -- the White Rose movement -- risked all for freedom. There is much more background information, trailers, etc. available at the movie's website.
Nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign-language Film, 2005. Winner of several German film awards.
"We will not be silent."
superb
Review date: 2008-02-03 Rating: 10 out of 10
This is a filmed piece of theatre that relies on perfectly cast actors, sharp dialogue, fascinating dramatic conflicts and, above all, a factual story that is both harrowing and uplifting. The final days of Hans and Sophie Scholl are not delivered here as an easy triumph of good over evil, nor is moral right simplistically dispensed between Nazi and non-Nazi. Evil is made palpable, and it is believable because of its power to use human agents not lost to evil. Good is convincing, and it is demanding because it tears its human agents between truth and life. The final image of this film shocks in a far more powerful way than mere cinema horror - but to explain its impact takes us back to the whole film. It should not missed.
P.S. I agree with viewers who place this film ahead of "Downfall" and for the reason that that film's nihilism, in the end, is too close to thing it would seem to condemn.
Well made and worthy
Review date: 2008-01-18 Rating: 8 out of 10
This is a very well acted and directed film, an inspiring and moving account of one of the few real acts of resistance to Hitler's regime that was undertaken by Germans themselves. It consists almost entirely of a depiction of the interrogation of Sophie Scholl after her arrest for distributing anti-nazi leaflets around her Munich University campus. The interrogation is not brutal, rather more a psychological game in which the Nazi seems almost to be aware of the truth of what Sophie is telling him, just perplexed as to why she has dared to speak when virtually nobody else has. And for the contemporary German cinema goer, Sophie is the present generation asking their grandparents why they never spoke out.
That her and her friends' defiance was almost unique, and that it was carried out by such young and idealistic people, hoping to spread a student rebellion throught the university campuses of Germany, simply emphasises the bravery and pathetic tragedy of Sophie. There was to be no wide-scale student revolt. In fact, most Germans at the time who heard about her actions regarded her as a traitor.
The film really excells towards the end however, with the public trial of Sophie and her brother. In particular the scene where she tells her accusers that 'they too will soon be standing where I am standing' is quite memorable and enough to lift an extremely worthy film into the category of the extremely good.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Fabian Hinrichs
Alexander Held
Julia Jentsch
Andre Hennicke
Johanna Gastdorf
Creators:
Julia Jentsch (Primary Contributor)
Alexander Held (Primary Contributor)
Director(s):
Recording label: Drakes Avenue
Manufacturer: Drakes Avenue
EAN: 5055159277259
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2006-04-24
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 115 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2005
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: German (Original Language)