The Captain (2018)

Let's be realistic.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

In the film Willi Herold is shown as a man that was forced into his actions to save his own life, like everyone human would do and that thereby he even saved the lifes of others... and I think its important to be very carefull with this information.

Greetings again from the darkness. It's mind-boggling how many fascinating stories - both large and small - continue to come from World War II, even 75 years later. Writer/director Robert Schwentke (RED, FLIGHTPLAN) abruptly opens his latest with a single soldier desperately running from a posse of Nazi soldiers who appear to be hunting him down. The soldier manages to escape, kicking off an incredible journey that we are informed occurred during the final two weeks of the war (April 1945). Max Hubacher stars as Willi Herold, the soldier we are to assume has deserted his military outfit and is now dirty, hungry and cold as he evades German patrols. Things change drastically for Herold when he stumbles on an abandoned suitcase neatly packed with a German Captain's coat and full uniform. We are left to wonder what happened to the officer, but do get to watch Willi's crazy next few days as he impersonates a German officer and assumes command of his situation.Circumstances result in "Captain" Herold gaining followers, each of whom are as lost or unwilling to continue fighting as himself. The ragtag group ends up at prison camp Aschendorfermoor ... a camp containing German deserters and looters. Herold has convinced those in charge that he has direct orders from Hitler to take command of the camp, and a horrific massacre of prisoners takes place over the next few days.While this is a stunning story ripped from historical documents, the film works even better as a psychological character study. Herold first employs his newfound power as a survival strategy, but he is soon corrupted by the power of his assumed position. We witness as some blindly follow orders, and we watch (dumbfounded) as Herold's thirst for power overtakes whatever integrity he might have had prior to the desperation injected by war. The film moves at a meticulous pace and at times feels redundant. It could have been a stellar short film, but director Schwentke uses the slow pace to allow our shock to grow as Herold evolves into a coy monster (with a fine performance from Mr. Hubacher). Filmed in stark black and white, it offers some beautiful shots from cinematographer Florian Ballhaus (THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA), the son of famed cinematographer and 3 time Oscar nominee Michael Ballhaus (GANGS OF NEW YORK). The elder Ballhaus passed away in 2017, and the son continues to build his own legacy. Set in Germany during April 1945, this blend of docudrama and black comedy is a collaboration of German, Poland and France, and as a true story, packs quite a punch.

Halfway through I was thinking about leaving the cinema, which I never do. The sheer brutality of the images is unbearable at times and I consider it reassuring to my mental condition that it is. But what was more unsettling is this feeling that the movie chose this serious setting simply to get away with disgusting violence. Of course this is not a new discussion, Inglorious Basterds, which I loved, comes to mind. But while IB did not pretend to be serious, this one seemingly does. It takes the absurdly-cruel parts of other great films (think of the jammed executioners gun in Schindlers List and others) and throws them together, making you think of these great movie-moments and forgiving that this one actually is not very good. The first act was great, threw us into the story right away, it catches the viewer. But then? It pretends to be a study on the brutality of men but is it? What we see are not men. These are monsters. Everything that would link their behaviour to that of normal people is gone. No backstory, no motivations explained. Anything that would make the viewer go "shit, that could be me!" is taken out in favour of evil monsters from planet Nazi in a galaxy far far away raging around. This depiction of fascism as a mere costume of evil has always bugged me. And while Inglorious Basterds or even the Indiana Jones movies with their Nazis do not try to be serious I could enjoy the stereotypical bad guys portrait in them. This movie on the other hand pretends it has something important to tell about human psyche. But it does not, there is better ones that actually tell you WHY people get brutal and don't just show images that make you go: "Wow. That was cruel". The images are moving but only in a way that "Saw" or "Hostel" are moving. If you make a movie set in Nazi-Germany be aware of the seriousness of the topic and dont let viewers get away with the sheer impression that the Nazis were unmotivated, alien monsters with just an inherent evilness.Surprisingly the credits rocked me. They made me perplexed, they made me laugh, they gave me a real feeling of absurdity but as they continued, they made me scared, they left me thinking. Everything I was lacking before - it was in the credits.

"Der Hauptmann" or "The Captain" is a new German 2-hour movie that premiered back in 2017, but was only released days ago to general audiences here in Germany. After making films in Hollywood for roughly 15 years and working with big names like Willis, Freeman, Malkovich and Bridges, this one is writer and director Robert Schwentke's (temporary?) return to Germany. The film with the exception of one shot is entirely in black-and-white and in my opinion, that was a good decision. The main character is played by Max Hubacher, an actor I was not too familiar until now, but he does a fine job given the fact thatg he is in basically every scene of the film. Fehling, Lau and Peschel are among Germany's most known at this point and they all play supporting characters. I must say though that the significance intended for Lau's and Peschel's characters was not really executed in a satisfying manner. Fehling does well with what he was given, even if it is not too much. This film plays during the final days of World War II and the consequence of this taking place in the battlefield and military, female characters are almost completely non-existent here. Not a problem though. The film shines through authenticity, shocking but realistic moments and eventually as a really good character study that goes way beyond the main character. The pair of Jewish entertainers in the last third of the film is another example of fine depictin and writing in terms of how differently their paths go. Guilt is a dominant subject here from start to finish and the question when evil is justified is a crucial one here all the time. Which of his actions are agreeable from the perspective that they saved his life or at least helped in saving his life? Which of his actions are just as despicable and undefendable as the ones by his tormentors? Everybody will have a different opinion on that I''m sure. i also liked the film's audio side. It was never in your face, but still elevated the material. The actors were almost all good and it is a successful return for Schwentke (the year he turns 50) without a doubt proving once more that the subject of WWII is still possible to produce quality movies even with the hundreds already existing about this darkest hour in European history of the 20th century. You just need to bring the talent creativity and approach. You could probably argue that what you see in here is not too realistic given the fact that it is all done by such a young man and how could they all be this stupid to fall for him. But then again, the one thing that destroys this argument is that it is based on real facts, a real character and to some extent all this really happened. And it is not as if he is depicted as the new messiah, that absolutely everybody falls for him: He has several antagonists in here who may believe his story, but still aren't ready to accept his authority. And that makes the watch even better, even more realistic. It was easy to care for the characters in here, to wonder what's going to happen to them next. At least for me and the longer the film went, the more curious I became if Herold would live or die. Well, it was something in-between then I guess. It is definitely impressive that this film never really dragged despite how long it is. I recommend the watch to everybody with an interest in this historic era. In my opinion this film is a success and I'm glad I saw it.