Napola Before The Fall 2004 | Boys in movies [BiM]

Napola Before The Wall 2004
Napola – Elite für den Führer (original title)
| 1h 57 min | Drama, Sport, War | 4 July 2004 (Czech Republic)

Storyline:

In 1942, Friedrich Weimer’s boxing skills get him an appointment to a National Political Academy (NaPolA) – high schools that produce Nazi elite. Over his father’s objections, Friedrich enrolls, seeing this as his ticket out of factory life to university and a good salary. During his year in seventh column (fifth form), this innocence is altered as Friedrich encounters hazing, cruelty, death, and the Nazi code. His friendship with Albrecht, the ascetic son of the area’s governor, is central to this education; a night in the forest hunting for escaped Russian POWs brings things to a head.

User review:

It is the first time ever I have been able to really feel (what I have always only imagined) a true sense of the thrill that German WW2 teenagers had by joining an elite Nazi regime, their sense of belong to something that was glorious and encompassing. Some more brutal elements from the teachers and Nazi hierarchy I personally found not too far removed from my experience of Catholic school in late (anti-vietnam) 1968! Sorry about that but it really did. Another person commenting on this page is angry that the film is misleading from his genuine Napola experience and it is well worth reading his comments as he was actually there in 38-42. I am sure he would know. However for today, NAPOLA needs to speak to a new audience and present an experience in a new and idealized way to people who have only imagined what it was like; I think the film must fit that in order to succeed as a film in 2005. I found that acceptable. There is many strong physical and emotional scenes, the teen casting is quite ideal and the castle location is eerie and medieval and exactly what I have seen in Hitler Youth Documentaries: turrets, Nazi flags, flames, stone walls etc….it all looks evocative and thrilling in cinemascope. I also find it quite interesting to see modern German filmmakers explaining the Nazi past in what seems to be a brave attempt at being honest about its seduction of morals and values and visual excitement.

Director: Dennis Gansel
Writers: Dennis Gansel, Maggie Peren
Stars: Max Riemelt, Tom Schilling, Devid Striesow

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384369/