Fuga de Colditz

When a very solid movie has been made on a true event, based on a book, or both, the Hollywoods of the world are hard pressed to repeat success with a remake. A rare few have been as successful when they copy an original hit movie. The vast majority either have failed outright or have had much less audience appeal. Yet, if one has a good story, or maybe a couple of good stories that you can change and mesh into a new tale of sorts, it's worth a try. That's what we have in this TV mini- series. "Colditz" was produced by Granada TV and aired on the BBC two nights in March 2005.

The movie title is taken from the famed German POW camp for Allied escapee officers. The filming in the Czech Republic gave some reality to the period and the place. And, it has some similarities to real prisoners who had been imprisoned at Colditz. The most striking of these is the character of Willis, played exceptionally well by Laurence Fox. Ironically, the real person he portrayed, Michael Sinclair, was called the Red Fox by the Germans. They had distributed his picture throughout Germany. The red-headed British captain may have been the most expert escape artist in WW II. He escaped nine times, including twice from Colditz. In this movie, Willis is finally killed when a German soldier shoots him. This scene is depicted about as it happened to Sinclair. He jumped the fence and was running to the woods when he was shot. He was the only prisoner in the six years of the Colditz camp to be killed while escaping.

But, this film otherwise has a major detraction from the story about Colditz Castle and the escape attempts. The first film about Colditz was in 1955. It had to condense much and the filmmakers made some changes, but it told the story as written by one of the first Colditz escapees, Patrick R. Reid.

Another American movie was made in 1971; and in 1972-74, the BBC ran a series with 28 episodes. Reid advised and worked on that series, and had written a follow-up book with more details. Now, jump forward 30 years, and someone at Granada TV thought this would be a good candidate for a remake. But, it couldn't copy the original. In fact, it should have the gratuitous female for romance and then some. So, the writers came up with a new story that they hoped would have appeal to modern audiences. The two-installment mini series was the result.

I don't know why they bothered to identify it with Colditz, except for the likely appeal from the name and real story. That was another way to draw people to the series. And, to be fair, it does show some realistic scenes about prisoners and escape attempts. But the story is much more about betrayal than it is about romance or escape from a POW camp. Those things surely are part of the story. But this more clearly is a story about a faithful girlfriend during wartime; a self-centered, rebellious and uncaring British soldier; and betrayal of another soldier, his girlfriend and his country by lustful persistence, lies, deceit murder and treason. So, for all of this, this rendition of "Colditz" is captivating and quite good. It has strong interest and entertainment appeal. I found myself wanting and looking forward to justice being done with the betrayer and lout.

I've not used character names here to keep the intrigue in the story for anyone who hasn't yet seen the film but would like to watch it. And by all means, if you haven't yet seen the original 1955 film with John Mills and Eric Portman, by all means watch for it to air or look for it in stores. It's worth the purchase price to have the real story and film.

been wanting to see this one for awhile, the previews looked pretty good, was figuring it would be like the great escape, or papillion, wrong, it's more like cold mountain or pearl harbor. now don't get me wrong this is an interesting movie, with great characters, just i think that the previews and the cover on the DVD are misleading,, this is more of a romance than a war movie, you got the lead character appearing before the war with his sweetie,, doesn't ask her to marry him,, big mistake,, he goes of to war , doesn't see her for a long time,, his buddy escapes the pow camp, and promises the other guy that he will look up his girl,, well without giving anything away, i'm sure you can guess what may happen,, there are many attempted escapes in this movie, i didn't feel that the German officers were very authentic in this movie..

COLDITZ

Aspect ratio: 1.78:1

Sound format: Dolby Digital

(2 episodes)

A desperate POW (Tom Hardy) plots escape from Colditz after learning that a former inmate (Damian Lewis) has returned to London and stolen Hardy's fiancée (Sophia Myles).

Lively addition to the 'heroes of WWII' subgenre, filmed on location in London and the Czech Republic, and directed with cinematic flair by Stuart Orme (THE PUPPET MASTERS). Richard Cottan's screenplay (co-written with Peter Morgan, based on the book by Henry Chancellor and the 2000 TV series "Escape from Colditz") cross-cuts between events at Colditz castle - where Hardy and fellow inmate Laurence Fox (DEATHWATCH) hatch multiple escape plans, only to be thwarted by a combination of bad luck and reckless bravado - and the less-interesting relationship which develops between Lewis and Myles, though the two plot threads merge neatly for a melodramatic finale. Lewis gives the showiest performance, playing a selfish character whose charming demeanor masks a propensity for greed and violence, though Hardy and Fox are suitably intense in crucial supporting roles. James Fox (father of Laurence) and Timothy West make extended cameo appearances as senior members of MI9, while former teen heartthrob Jason Priestley plays a Canadian POW whose burgeoning drug habit pays lethal dividends. Fine cinematography and production values.

I enjoyed watching the two part television series about the Colditz Castle even though I have known better escape movies such as "Papillon" or "The Shawshank Redemption" and even though the melodramatic love and treachery stories were rather predictable and some historical details had not been taken into consideration. There were also some things that I would have liked to see further developed such as the escape at the beginning of the movie, the death of the electrician and the fate of Sawyer but these things are only details.

I think that this movie got too many severe reviews on this side as the actors do some great efforts and the movie succeeds to keep the pace and attention quite high over more than three hours. I liked the fact that the plot spent some time on developing the different characters and the human conflicts which gave a philosophical and moral twist to the movie and treated topics such as desperation, drug abuse, treachery, bribery, love, dreams and freedom. The characters were authentic and diversified. The escape plans were mostly original and quite entertaining and it was good to see that an equal time was spent on the escape story and on the complex love story itself. That's why this movie was rather diversified and mixed action and drama passages with more romantic passages. I think that this dynamical mixture is one of the main factors that carried this good movie on.

In the end, if you like historical movies about the world wars or complex escape stories, you might pretty much like this film even if it is not a highlight of the genre. You will though get a well done and very entertaining movie that will make you think and learn a lot about history and life.

Well, I have a big crush on Damian Lewis but that is not enough to propel this series into a high star rating. There isn't nearly enough time spent on the attempts to escape from what is almost an inescapable fortress. There isn't enough attention to the place, or to the feelings of frustration and uselessness and claustrophobia that these POW's feel. In addition, sometimes it is difficult to understand what is being said. I could understand Lewis though.

There are too few scenes showing how these prisoners actually spend their TIME, other than staring out the window. Escape plans which took months in reality are glossed over, and suddenly you see a bunch of guys on another daring attempt, almost out of the blue. The Colditz story is a fascinating one and the 1972 series is well worth seeing. This one, see it once and you really get how great the original was.

I thought this version had a love triangle that took up too much screen time and pulled the viewer into London too often. That defeats the purpose of creating the proper atmosphere for the viewer to feel what it was really like to be stuck in Colditz with very little hope of escape. I will say that the acting and sets are good.