The Captain

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

This is a surprising movie. Th is poorly advertised/promoted movie delivers good script, acting and the camera work is A1. The movie is based on a true story of a low ranking German soldier who assumes the rank of a Captain and goes on a murderous rampage enlisting similar rogues to help him achieve it. While the actual historic criminal acts of murder are depicted in the movie, the graphic nature of it is not really thrown in your face. You can fill in the blanks. In authenticity, this movie is way up there. Uniforms, weapons and vehicles are all in line with the era.

When you see artillery and aerial bomb explosions in this movie, what is depicted is the same as actual artillery and aerial bombing of that time. They did a fine job replicating it..

The movie draws you in and it is gripping to say the least. I give it a solid 8 stars.

This title is not like any other typical WWII film. There are no epic battles to witness and no glory for the viewer to hope for. Instead, the film takes a dark humanistic approach to explore the dynamics of power and authority. The quote "Power attracts the worst and worst, it corrupts the best" comes to mind when watching events unfold through many dialogue intensive scenes of the film. Others may see the movie dragging because of all the dialogue but for me, it's a chance to explore in depth the characters and their realistic reaction/behavior in the story. Although certain points of the plot can seem over dramatize which reminds me that the notion of this being based on a true story should be taken with a grain of salt. But overall, it feels authentic for the most part and it's refreshing.

Well maybe "knew it" would be better ... but that would not be as close to the song as I had in mind. Just a little nugget/hint/joke I like to make with my summary lines. Not that this is a comedy - most German movies are either known as romantic comedies/dramas or have the second world war as a topic - this obviously being the latter.

This has an intersting twist with a character assuming a position and power grab, that will run throughout the movie. War is not a game and what it does with people (especially when they get into a position of power) is shown here very vividly. Very well played and acted (mostly in black and white nonetheless). If you don't have issues with the subject matter and the symbols shown, the movie might be something you want to watch. Interesting take to say the least.