(aka "Sophie Scholl -- Die Letzten Tage" )

directed by Marc Rothemund
Germany 2005

Much of post-WWII German cinema has been set in contemporary times (especially German New Wave) or in the distant past. However, in the first decade of the 21st Century, several noteworthy movies have directly examined historical moments that defined today’s Germany. Two recent examples are Downfall, about Hitler’s last days in his Berlin bunker, and Good Bye, Lenin!, about East Germans dealing with the burying of their identities after the re-unification of Germany.

Sophie Scholl -- The Final Days is yet another German cinematic soul search. After WWII, the Germans were basically forced to say, “We’re sorry for being the bad guys” over and over again. The Germans essentially weren’t allowed to mourn for their losses (since their soldiers died for the “wrong” cause), and the Allies decided that there weren’t any “good” Germans between 1930 and 1945. Still, the remarkable story of Sophie Scholl and The White Rose began to surface, and at least two movies were made about Scholl and her brief life. Sophie Scholl is the first of these biopics to be based on recently released documents that were locked away by the East-German government.

In Sophie Scholl, Sophie and her brother Hans are arrested for distributing an anti-Nazi leaflet in a German university during WWII. Miraculously, both hold up well during interrogation, and their lies corroborate each other. They are on the verge of being released when the authorities find additional evidence of anti-Nazi activities in their apartment.

Sophie Scholl unfolds in a straightforward, matter-of-fact way like Paul Greengrass’s Bloody Sunday and United 93, though director Marc Rothemund did not mimic Greengrass’s camerawork and editing style. Like Greengrass, Rothemund does not editorialize; he simply presents characters as they go about their business. Therefore, we don’t get a lot of background details about Sophie Scholl or her brother (even during the interrogation sequences), though the movie gives us enough information for us to understand why the Scholls had opinions that were so different from other Germans’.

Julia Jentsch has numerous awards for her performance, and she does an excellent job of conveying Sophie Scholl’s remarkable self-control under pressure. Sophie literally does not crack (except for a brief moment when she finds out that she has a few hours rather than 99 days to live). Jentsch indicates Sophie Scholl’s nervousness with a few well-planned eye movements and mouth twitches, but since her facial expressions could be interpreted as reactions of relief, Jentsch shows how the real Sophie Scholl might’ve fooled her interrogators during the early stages of ordeal.

Most of the mid-section is focused on Sophie Scholl’s time with her interrogator, Robert Mohr. The dialogue was taken from transcriptions of their discussions, and both Julia Jentsch and Alexander Held are memorable for giving their complex characters many shadings despite the brief temporal frame (the movie covers Sophie Scholl’s last six days). Towards the end of their time together, Mohr begins to respect Sophie Scholl for her composure, her refusal to back down in the face of intimidation, and her belief in basic moral decency. Alexander Held makes Mohr’s subtle transformation credible and believable.

The final third is dominated by Andre Hennicke’s scary performance as Judge Roland Freisler. Dressed in red robes, Freisler/Hennicke embodies the “blood justice” of the Nazi regime. Freisler was eager for Hitler’s approval, though most of the top Nazis held Freisler in contempt. Therefore, perhaps to ingratiate himself with Der Fuhrer, Freisler imitated Hitler’s hysterics-laden style of speechifying. Freisler’s style of “communication” is laughable under ordinary circumstances, but this was a real man with real power in a real country. Freisler embodied the terrifying nature of Nazi rule--the ridiculous and the unthinkable were the norms.

The movie is commendably low key in many ways, including its presentation of very normal people whose community leaders are raging lunatics. However, one aspect of the production--the music--irritated me. For some reason, the moviemakers decided to use music cues that would be appropriate for thrillers. Undoubtedly, the first third of the movie does work as a thriller, but the performances and the real-life aspect of the story generate plenty of tension. The “sentimental” music that plays when Sophie is alone reflecting on her predicament also sounded out of place. All of the movie’s strongest moments don’t have any music, diegetic or non-diegetic; listening to the actors’ line deliveries and the actual words spoken were enough to make me sit on the edge of my seat.

Yunda Eddie Feng

Posters

Theatrical Release: 13 February 2005

Reviews    More Reviews  DVD Reviews

DVD Review: Zeitgeist - Region 1 - NTSC

Big thanks to Yunda Eddie Feng for the Review!

DVD Menus

Screen Captures

DONATIONS Keep DVDBeaver alive and advertisement free:

Mail cheques, money orders, cash to:    or CLICK PayPal logo to donate!