Colditz - Flucht in die Freiheit (2005)

Too much of everything

Powerful

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

I've already watched some 2 hours of this incredible flop! I'll go through it to see to what an extent the two script writers have gone.Have they ever read a single line of the many books about Colditz and in particular Pat Reid's. Probably not.Their sole interest in this movie is to show a love story and all the rest is just for the fun and accessory. The skills of all those prisoners, the friendship which developed between 6 or 7 nations united in the same hardships is second in line in the story.This movie is an insult to the memory of so many young chaps who suffered for days in that awful prison."Biscuitcharley" has written in his review in 2012 "It may have been filmed in the Czech and England, but it is an American production, and yet again, they have demonstrated their ability to rewrite history to fulfill their own greedy, empty past. Thanks again Hollywood, for making me sick to my stomach and aching for you not to destroy history, again!".I totally adhere to his analysis. What would say Americans if we Europeans dared to rewrite the Civil war period? They should really be ashamed of themselves. No words can express my disgust before such a production!

Thrilling wartime heroics take a back seat to a lackluster romance in "Puppet Masters" director Stuart Orme's atmospheric but disappointing British P.O.W. escape saga "Colditz." During World War II, the Third Reich rounded up all the worst Allied escape artists from prisoner-of-war camps and cornered them in an ancient castle. Although quite a bit of the action takes place in Germany with P.O.W.s struggling to get out of Colditz, the bulk of the action transpires in England. Murderous Irish soldier Corporal Nicholas McGrade (Damian Lewis of "Band of Brothers) escapes from Colditz and makes it back to London where his superior, Lt. Colonel Jimmy Fordham (James Fox of "Performance"), congratulates on his good luck and promotes him to lieutenant. Naturally, this upstart Irish decides to take revenge on a fellow prisoner, Second Lieutenant Jack Rose (Tom Hardy of "Black Hawk Down"), and tells Rose's girl, Lizzie Carter (Sophie Myles of the "Underworld" movies), that Jack is dead. Smug Nicholas eventually persuades reluctant Lizzie to share his bed. Things go awry when another Colditz prisoner, Captain Sawyer (Guy Henry of "V for Vendetta"), escapes and suspects that McGrade has lied to Lizzie and told her that her boyfriend Jack was shot while trying to escape.The best scene in this dreary World War II romance thriller occurs when three escape happy Brits plunge into the sewer system to squirm out of Colditz. Otherwise, "Colditz" is barely worth watching for its lengthy three hour running time. The Germans are portrayed as thugs without any individuality. Jason Priestly is truly unsavory as Flying Officer Rhett Barker who scourges things for his companions to make their escape. The most pathetic character is Captain Willis (Laurence Fox of "The Last Drop" where he played an SS officer) who repeatedly tries to escape but never succeeds. His last demoralizing act of escape is valiant but futile.It's easy to tell that "Colditz" is a post-World War II war movie. The Allies spend more time fighting each other than they do the Nazis. If you want to see a crackerjack World War II escape movie, check out John Sturges' "The Great Escape" with Steve McQueen. James Bond director Guy Hamilton had better like with Colditz in his own version "The Colditz Story." You'd think that the people at Granada who produced "Colditz" should have known better than to spoil a vintage World War II tale with a forgettable soap opera love triangle. Furthermore, the DVD presentation of this saga lacks not only English language subtitles but also closed captioning. Most of the dialogue is virtually muffled and you have to rewind scenes to understand what the leads are staying to each other. Finally, none of the protagonists are remotely sympathetic. Instead, everybody is selfish and egotistical, not exactly the kind of heroes that you want to root for.

Does anyone do any research for programmes any more? The holes in the production of "Colditz" were too numerous to mention, and the plot too ridiculous to contemplate.The history of Colditz must be so well documented that practically everyone must know that the first Brit to make a home run from the castle was Airey Neave, and he did not escape by way of disguising himself as an electrician and borrowing his three-wheeler. (Such an ingenious impersonation was tried, but the would be escapee was caught and photographed next to the unfortunate tradesman.) To be fair, the feature movie "The Colditz Story" was also at fault here, as it depicted Pat Reid as making the first Brit home run, but it's closing remarks did make an acknowledgement of Neave's achievement.In this latest effort little was made in capturing the flavour of situations and events (or hunger). Even a smattering of truth would have made all the difference, but then the silly love triangle turned the whole thing into a laughable fiasco. I have nothing against the inclusion of romance into such historical series, but here the facts were changed to fit the story. This should never be done but sadly it often is. As for the misguided depictions of mock executions, all surviving Colditz POWs (and indeed guards) seeing this, must be shaking their heads in utter disbelief.The closing credits included a statement that the production was based in part on recent documentaries. I suggest the producers etc. should study them a little closer and talk to survivors, instead of resorting to uninspired artistic licence. I also suggest they should read the many books and websites on the subject. It's not difficult to find the truth if the time is taken to look for ithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airey_Neavehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colditz_Castle

This movie is much like what Pearl Harbour did to Tora, Tora, Tora (the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbour). It's a story with love interwoven among prisoner of wars. If you are looking for a good prison escape war movie, you'd be disappointed as they are loop holes all over. I was attracted by the trailer that said that "an escape from the tightest security prison" And if you are hoping for a full love story, it doesn't make it either. The plot is also shallow. However, the cinematography is excellent. I like the way it was filmed: the scenes in the prison was often in greyish-brownish tones and the military intelligence headquarters in brighter colours. Switching around the locations using this technique kept me interested all the time. The ending could have been better but is rather abrupt. I'd watch it again, if I was someone looking for a love story in war time setting. The trailer shown could be better. And in the opening scenes - a line "an officer and gentleman" was used. It was certainly not what it was meant to be.