Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Tage

OK, first of all. This movie is absolutely not like "the Downfall" (Der Untergang). Sophie Scholl is way more demanding and exacting. Now, 3 days after I've seen this movie, I still got a feeling of guilt and concernment in my stomach. In my opinion Sophie Scholl is due to its precision more like a (replayed) documentary movie than a Drama, which makes it even more "shocking". This is for sure no light entertainment, and those, that don't like long conversations or even are not interested in history, should not watch this movie. This is the main reason, why Sophie Scholl won't make the transatlantic heap, because it's too "special". It's a part of German history and requires a willingness to cope with it.

Marc Rothemund does a very good job on directing this movie, and Julia Jentsch is very convincing. While watching this movie you don't have the feeling that the story is 60 years ago and can't touch you. It makes you feel like you're in the thick of it. And that's why I give a 9/10. Great Movie.

This film is not about the „Weisse Rose" (White Rose) resistance group, nor is it about Sophie Scholl. It sticks very closely to its title, and only deals with the last days of Sophie Scholl. Having staked out such a narrow subject, Marc Rothemund is able to narrate the story in great detail. This allows the use of pauses in the dialogue which add to the credibility and drama. I read the official version of the interrogation before seeing the film, and felt that a very good effort had been made to reconstruct what may have actually happened. I also felt that the atmosphere which the film conveyed to be entirely plausible for that time, which I am not old enough to have lived through. For instance, the characters always seemed to be holding back, and not opening their feelings to each other.

Because the official version of the interrogation was dictated by Robert Mohr, it is certain to contain many gaps, such as the lines of questioning before reaching Sophie Scholl's quoted replies. The film may have tended to be too dramatic in filling those gaps. It was surely too dramatic in showing so many chance encounters in the various corridors. Perhaps this tendency to over-dramatise was necessary to present the otherwise rather dry historical events. At least the final result was almost believable, in contrast to many films about the past, and it was an improvement on earlier films covering the White Rose, simply because so much more has come to light since they were made.

This is one of the best dramatic reconstructions of historical events that I have seen.

I saw this film on February 14th, 2006 in Indianapolis. I am one of the judges for the Heartland Film Festival that screens films for their Truly Moving Picture Award. A Truly Moving Picture "…explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life." Heartland gave that award to this film.

The place and time are Nazi Germany of 1942-43. Germany is starting to have serious war setbacks like their huge loss and immense casualties at Stalingrad, and the allies, consisting of England, the United States, and Russia, are united in the destruction of the Third Reich. Within Germany, the opposition to Hitler, the Gestapo, and fascism is laughably small. Students with mimeograph machines try to educate and motivate other students to rally and protest. These students have to do this clandestinely because their activities are considered high treason and there is no freedom of speech or assembly.

Sophie Scholl and her older brother Hans are caught distributing subversive, anti-Hitler literature. The film focuses on the 21 year old Sophie, and she is NOT the weaker sex. She is interrogated for days and she is a spectrum of people far beyond her years; i.e., young, afraid, conniving, brave, docile, belligerent, religious, tough, tender, mature, etc.

The film is shot in color, but the color is heavily muted and it looks almost black and white. That is appropriate because the film plays as much as a documentary and as it does as a fictional drama. In fact, this story is based on a true story.

We live in a time when the head of Iran thinks the Holocaust didn't happen. It is moving to see that at least some young people in Germany during World War II were ashamed and disgusted by their country's murder of Jews, the mentally ill, gypsies, and women and children of occupied countries.

Sophie's religious beliefs were inspiring. She did not blame her God and she did not feel forsaken. God was simply her strength that she humbly called upon when she needed it most.

This film appears to have been made with a low budget. But, the impact is as powerful as large-budgeted films with similar themes like "Schindler's List" and "A Man For All Seasons." It has been nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign Picture this year. And…it deserves the nomination.

FYI – There is a Truly Moving Pictures web site where there is a listing of past Truly Moving Picture Award winners that are now either at the theater or available on video.

German film is on its way again and this is another example. Sophie Scholl was a member of the White Rose, who distributed pamphlets against Hitler at the Munich university in 1943. That was of course suicide. Gestapo got them.

This is not only a recapitulation. Far from it. There is also a small but strong mini drama between Scholl and the Gestapo interrogator and despite the situation and what in the end can't be avoided, it's not clear who really wins that battle.

Very good acting by Julia Jentsch and Gerald Alexander Held here. A real nightmare and a perverse situation, but still taken out of life. This is not only drama. It is also possible.

In 1943, in Munich, the siblings Sophie Magdalena Scholl (Julia Jentsch) and Hans Scholl (Fabian Hinrichs) distribute anti-Nazi pamphlets in the University of Munich. However, they are arrested by the Gestapo and Sophie is interrogated by Robert Mohr (Alexander Held).

Sophie becomes loyal to her ideal and to her comrades of The White Rose resistance group and pleads guilty of all charges to save them. In a couple of days, she is judged by a Nazi court with her brother Hans and their friend Christoph Probst (Florian Stetter ) and they are sentenced to death and beheaded.

"Sophie Scholl - Die Letzten Tage" recreates the last days of the twenty-one year-old Sophie Magdalena Scholl, who was a student of the University of Munich and leader of the Anti-Nazi resistance group The White Rose. This awarded film has great performances and direction, and the dialogs are awesome, specially the ideological discussion between Sophie and Mohr during the interrogation.

I am a big fan of German movies and for those who liked "Sophie Scholl - Die Letzten Tage", there is another good film about this resistance group named "Die Weiße Rose" (1982). My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Uma Mulher Contra Hitler" ("A Woman against Hitler")