A Ponte da Esperança

"Die Letzte Brücke" was the movie which put Maria Schell on the map:it is probably her best part:emotion to the fore,sentimentality kept to economical levels -which was not always so in her later films.Her portrayal of a German doctor kidnapped by Yougoslavian partisans is unforgettable.

At the beginning,the young doctor is an earnest and dedicated but a bit superficial woman,who does not ask herself any questions.She never talks about politics with the staff in the hospital.When she falls into the enemy's hands,she's not certain of having God on her side anymore.Her heroism will not come overnight,it will be a long time before she discovers the absurdity of war .

Admirable sequences:the old grandma ,giving a dead's shoes to the doctor ,to help her relieve the suffering world;the German prisoner,who refuses medical cares because "she's a traitress";the finale ,with Schell crossing "the last bridge" to bring medicine to the "others".

Barely ten years after the end of WW2,it was a courageous movie,coming from the Federal Republic of Germany.Although it occasionally lapses into melodrama (notably the doctor's fiancé),it's still relevant today.

I was in the Goethe-Institut when I accidentally stumbled across this film. I went to IMDb and found good references about the film and its director and as an added attraction it featured Maria Schell in the main role. And the story seemed interesting.

A German nurse, Helga (Maria Schell) is kidnapped by Yugoslavian partisans. Their doctor has died and they need another one. Helga has medical training, so she's forced to go with them. At first she goes with them unwillingly. She doesn't like them and they don't like her. As the time goes by, she begins to see them as they really are, not anymore as bandits, but as human beings that need her help. And while they are going through mountains and crossing rivers, a new understanding of the people and the land dawn on her. Sometimes they are attacked by German forces. And Helga begins to suspect that maybe things are not so simple as she once thought. She's doesn't know anymore where she belongs.

This subject could have easily led to a maudlin or preachy film, but "Die Letzte Brücke" avoids these traps. "Die Letzte Brücke" manages to convey emotion through a skillful use of images and words - close-ups on Maria Schell's face, on other faces, the mountains, the rivers, the bridges. When partisan commandant Boro (Bernhard Wicki) and Helga are passing by a cemetery, he says to Helga: "Here are buried the German soldiers", and then, with a wide gesture, showing the landscape, mountains and all, he says: "and there are buried our people, my people, our land". As you see, images and words work together, the emotion conveyed by them is deep, but the film is not at all melodramatic.

"Die Letzte Brücke" is a refreshing change from the Hollywood diet that we are forced to swallow. The world war 2 movies made in Hollywood are usually simplistic and shallow. This film will raise many questions for those are still able to think. And Maria Schell's acting is simply superb. Highly recommended!

P.S. - Some Germans of the older generation thought that Italy's armistice with the Allies was a betrayal. An Italian character that appears in the beginning of the film is shown in an unsympathetic light. A little later on, when the Italians are celebrating the armistice, a German officer comments bitterly on the "opportunism" of the Italians. Was this character expressing Helmut Käutner's opinion? I don't know. Anyway, as most people, on seeing the film, won't probably even notice the things I'm talking about, this is not so important. More food for thought!

Excellent antiwar movie, the simple but continually gripping story of a German nurse (Maria Schell, in her best role), captured by Serbian partisans and put to use saving the lives of their soldiers, while becoming increasingly torn as to which side she should be on.

This tale of one kindhearted but powerless person trying to do the right thing in the midst of much greater carnage and insanity could easily have turned out just another generic, sappy, spoon-feeding wartime romantic melodrama, but by keeping each moment and character small, heartfelt and real, it unostentatiously rises above that fate and ends up a minor classic. Well worth checking out if you get the chance.

Unvarnished in the turmoil of the World War: Maria Schell as a partisan doctor on the Neretva

With this Austrian-Yugoslav war drama, the important director Helmut Käutner (1908-1980) achieved great success after a few failures. He was awarded the Prix International at the Cannes Film Festival in 1954. Absolutely deserved!

Dr. Helga Reinecke (Maria Schell), a young German doctor, serves in a military hospital in Mostar (Bosnia-Herzegovina) during World War II. There she falls in love with one of her patients, the robust sergeant Martin Berger (Carl Möhner). Before they have their first night together, Martin has to go out into the field again. There are repeated attacks by local partisans. But the lovers will soon see each other again. But just at the moment of their reunion, Helga is tricked by the partisan Militza (Barbara Rütting) and kidnapped into the mountains of the Neretva Valley. There, according to the wishes of the partisan leader Boro (Bernhard Wicki), she is supposed to provide medical care for the partisans. The doctor reluctantly agrees to this. She basically doesn't have a choice. Little by little, however, Helga realizes how much she is needed. And that as a doctor it shouldn't really matter who she cares for, as she should be there for all patients. When typhus broke out, new medication was urgently needed. Together with Militza, the doctor has to go on a dangerous mission - back to Mostar...

What an outstanding film! Filmed at the original location, with Serbo-Croatian-speaking actors, even Bernhard Wicki and Barbara Rütting are sensational as "acted locals". And then Maria Schell, who gives the best performance of her film career in this almost documentary-like scenario. She was rightly given an honorable mention at Cannes for her acting performance.

After this success, Helmut Käutner was back in business as a director, but all doors were now open for the actors too. Maria Schell (1926-2005) started a global career with offers from Paris, Cinecitta and Hollywood. Bernhard Wicki (1919-2000) was awarded a Golden Globe in 1960 as the director of "Die Brücke" (1959). The broad-shouldered Carl Möhner (1921-2005) was immediately hired for the global hit "Rififi" (1955) and was seen repeatedly in international films in the next decade. And Barbara Rütting (1927-2020) had wonderful appearances in "Time to Live, Time to Die" (1958), "Town Without Pity" (1962) and "Operation Crossbow" (1965).

In other roles you can see Tilla Durieux (1880-1971), who actually hid with the partisans during the Second World War, as the farmer's wife Mara and Horst Hächler, born in 1926, as the prisoner of war Lieutenant Scherer, who first insults Helga as a "traitor to the fatherland", before he lets her nurse him back to health. Horst Hächler was soon to become the first husband of the upcoming world star Maria Schell. In the 1970s he became the producer of various sex films and some Ganghofer remakes with his production company TV13. TV13 also co-produced the funny brawler "Zwei Schlitzohren in der gelben Hölle / Two Rascals in the Yellow Hell" (1974) with Brad Harris and GOLDEN GLOBE nominee Antonio Sabato.

Unfortunately, "The Last Bridge" has not been shown on TV or available on DVD for ages. That's why it's all the better that you can watch the film on YT at the moment. It is worth it! This film is an unfairly forgotten masterpiece!