Der Hauptmann

You can compare this WWO2 movie with the style of Dunkirk. That means that the movie is not for everyone, but if you can appreciate this kind of movies, it's magnificent. The movie doesn't want to be a hollywood blazing brainless action movie, but wants to portrait the germans on an individual level. Like @barta-46978 says, the movie is about authority and gives yourself an insight in what it must have been at the time, and even how you would react in the given circumstances. The movie is explicit and kind of shocking. It really intrigued me, we need more movies like this.

The film revolves around authority, the trust we tend to have towards a person we endow with authority, official ranks, hierarchy, "Kameradschaft", the sense of belonging to a group, and (for me at least), egoism in general. It is also quite brutal and sadistic. The story itself, with the most improbable twists, is taken from a real life story at the end of the war. It is rare in war films to have the perspective of the criminal. We do not sympathise with him, but rather he impersonates the beast in every one of us. Another merit of the film is quite natural: German actors can of course impersonate German soldiers better than for example US ones, it also gives a realistic touch to the film as opposed to US war movies featuring evil nazis. The message of the film was for me clear and delivered with a great impression - I will not write it here as it would be flat in my words.

To me, it reminds Medieval stories about an accident changing everything. The man, the world as the best self definition. A film about fear. Its roots, its fruits, the absolute power covering all and the fragility of illegim position as source of cruel gestures and long chain of improvisations. The best point of film - the superb performance of Milan Peschel as Freytag. The simplicity of profound good man front to the high cruelty, knowing the truth, preserving respect, in the shell of a deep shock behind the gestures of young Herold. All is reflected by the great art of Peschel. The war becomes only pretext for the instincts of a falling world. The beautiful cinematography, the memories about similarities with films by Fellini or B>ergman, the veil of ash around each scene, the last words on screen about a private and his illusion of power , the predictable end of a story who is more real than reality .

An interesting movie for 2 main reasons: 1) it shows the fragilities of the Nazi Germany towards the end of the war, with many German soldiers deserting the army (something nobody talks about) and 2) it shows the depths of the human ego and the decadence of character when power is given arbitrarily

I'd like to make it very clear that I seldom rate any film a 10. IMDB is awash with 10's that have little originality and are complete nonsense ratings. 10 should ALWAYS be reserved for films which are unique and outstanding. Now I know that is rather a vague definition but for me, at the end of the day a '10' has got to be reserved in order to maintain some modicum of rating integrity.

This film took me on a quite unexpected journey; From an apparantly innocent private just trying to etch out some degree of respite and dignity from the chaos of war, to a shakespearean like or perhaps more fittingly Conrad-like descent into the depths of desperation, depravity and moral absence. The film has so many layers and aspects of what human beings are capable of under extreme conditions; The man who chooses to take his own life, immediately juxtaposed by his friend who proceeds to take the lives of others in the hope of extending his own until the next appalling moral dilemma is presented. (too many to go into here). There is so much I could say about this film but will just end on one particularly high impact scene that at least for me, represented both the darkness of nature, and that of human nature: Towards the end of the film, the protagonist comes across skeletal remains in a forest. One particular artistic cinematic shot renders the remains in such a way that they appear to have oozed out, or been thrown out, by the dark mouth of the forest, the forest clearly being a metaphor for the dark power of nature that has no moral measure; it just, is.