Der Rote Baron

it is not exactly the expected historical film. maybe a documentary. far by patriotic enthusiasm - so familiar from American films- , without emotional twists - the tone is almost blank, giving the portrait of a legendary German hero in precise lines. a cold sketch. about the Red Baron and his comrades, his girl friend, humor and passion for its duty. the historical accuracy is far to be the best point but the film gives a realistic portrait . and this is a real precious virtue.

If you're an aviation fan, you're going to love this movie. The aerial scenes of World War I era biplanes in action are truly astounding.

The lead role of the Baron is played by Matthias Schweighöfer whose boyish good looks and magnetic smile are fully exploited to make the Red Baron impossible to dislike. The character of the Baron is portrayed as a young man of high principals who struggles to reconcile his humanity in the completely inhumane circumstances of war. He is torn between his sense of duty to his country and it's megalomaniac leadership and his conscience. Now I don't know if any of that is actually true, but it makes for a touching story nonetheless.

Overwhelmingly I was aware that the makers of this movie wanted to transmit the message that Germans are not the stereotype so often portrayed in war movies as either emotionless auto-bots of death and destruction or blood thirsty hums. Is this done in an effort to raise public opinion of Germans (it is a German production by the way) or because audiences are growing intolerant of stereotyping and it's injurious, evil nature. I can't say, I'd like to believe the latter, but you'll certainly find the Baron and his fellow pilots all endearing characters and you'll be saddened when most of them meet their maker in the course of the story.

The writer – director Nikolai Müllerschön isn't very loyal to historical facts in many respects. I was particularly disturbed by the portrayal of the German Emperor (Kaiser Wilhelm) as a warmongering protagonist and Paul Von Hindenburg as a foolish smiling fat man. However, in order for the character of the Baron to shine so brightly the Baron needed dark forces to nobly resist and therefore these men were transformed to serve that purpose. I strongly advise the viewer not to expect to get a history lesson from his movie.

I consider this a fun and exciting movie. I knocked it down a little because of the historical inconsistencies, but the tale is well told, the movie does not drag and it was very easy to fall in love with this movie. I only want it released into the United States now. I saw it and fell in love with it.

I think they did a marvelous job of recreating the feel of aerial combat, the uniforms and planes of the time (not to mention the cool automobiles) and I thought the acting was quite good.

Til Schweiger is great as the role of Werner Voss. Lena Heady is a great nurse Kate and Mathias Schweighofer manages to give what I believe is a command performance as a young, idealistic Prussian lad called to war.

I also thought they did a good job of re-creating the Kaiser and his generals. It was so convincing that I almost thought I was seeing Von Hindenberg and the Kaiser in the bunker.

I would have liked to see Boelcke and others in the movie, but maybe you can only do so much in two hours. I watched this fine movie and felt a real kinship with these flying kids. As a part Prussian-American, it was easy to identify with them.

Well done and well worth watching.

The movie seems a bit slow at first. One wonders if it's going to be a realistic crude harsh war movie, as we have grown accustomed to in the last years, or a romantic poetic depiction of this folk hero/legend.

As one gets into the film, one discovers it's both things. There are several sub themes. The jealousy and competitiveness between brothers, the strong contrasting point of views from how the German pilots lived and saw the war as compared to their infantry mud submerged counterparts, the beauty of the initial sportsmanship displayed by Richthoffen and many other airmen in their practice of war, the love story, and many more.

Perhaps the most appealing to some of us is the gradual turn of things towards the impending tragedy, how the characters seem to express it just in the way they look at each other and how this epic sized hero, well represented by the unknown actor Tomas Koutnik, embraces his fate with a powerlessness and dignity that reflects the whole of humanity's ultimate choices when faced with the certain end: play out the role you've been assigned in this life with dignity.

Congratulations to this director, his craftsmanship, the actors, the staff, and let me not forget specially that wonderful Lena Heady who is very sensual and sublime!

I had the opportunity to see this film yesterday during a pre-screening in hamburg. Technically not yet perfect (in terms of grading, sound design and some effects) we saw the final cut. And I am truly pleasantly surprised. The film being a German production, the lead roles Germans, mixed with an international cast, made me extremely skeptical because - apart from the perfume - I haven't seen a truly convincing German project for a "big film" yet. BUT, this film was really well done. Good performances by all actors throughout, an amazing production design, and - best of all - really astonishing and eye catching visual effects and cgi. The effects were very subtle all over and never really recognizable. That makes good VFX!

The film itself is not a flat action/history flick, it has a message to tell and that comes across really well. The relationship between the baron and his girl is told in a very subtle way, no cheesy romance-scenes. It all happens during WW1, there was simply no time for big emotions. So we don't see a "Pearl Harbour" Hollywood flick, but a picture that shows how it really might have been - flying a plane during war. There are no clichés, just a portrait of a hero that did not even want to be one. And the cruelty and absurdity of war itself, as even the main protagonist has to learn. The ending is also well done and not cheesy or over the top. Apart from that the film did not really grab me, I enjoyed watching but was seldomly thrilled or emotionally moved. Maybe some of the characters were simply a little too flat. Also the film jumps at times and leaves out some interesting battle scenes, I had the impression they did it to keep the VFX work down.. Overall I give it a 6.5/10.