Der Hauptmann powerfully evokes the total loss of moral fabric in Germany in the weeks before its final total collapse. Based on the true story of Wehrmacht corporal Willi Herold, the film starts when we see him hunted as a deserter by his fellow countrymen. Willi somehow escapes, and finds the uniform of a highly decorated Luftwaffe captain in an abandoned army vehicle. He puts it on, and soon he finds himself being listened to, deciding on matters of life and death, and mass execution, just because it means he will stay alive, and comfortable, a bit longer in this race to the bottom.
Robert Schwentke‘s early career in Hollywood involved directing successful big-budget films. Bringing all his cinematic tools and talent, he returned to shoot this provocative story in Germany, just when local politicians were propounding the right to be proud of the accomplishments of the German Wehrmacht…
Film details
- Countries of production
- France, Germany, Poland, Portugal
- Year
- 2017
- Festival edition
- IFFR 2018
- Length
- 118"
- Medium/Format
- DCP
You may also like this
-
Journey to Russia
In the late 1980s, found-footage pioneers Gianikian & Ricci Lucchi travelled to Russia looking for living memories of the avant-garde of the 19
-
Fuck Off! – Images from Finland
Sparkling documentary classic from 1971 in which Donner and his mates made Finnish but also Swedish streets unsafe with their investigation into ho
-
Los versos del olvido
Cemetery caretaker discovers the body of a young female protester at the morgue. He does everything he can to give her a proper funeral. The Irania