The Captain - l'usurpateur

Der Hauptmann was a fascinating watch. Watching, the young paratrooper Wili Herold get in over his head and essentially begin BSing his way to the top was as an entertaining watch for me as it was disturbing.

Though the film is incredible in its presentation and acting, it still has its flaws. Upon finishing the film packed full of war crimes and human disparity, I left it feeling like I had taken nothing from it after its shocking scenes. The Captain has essentially no moral or messages to showcase beyond just telling a story of a power-hungry monster and the overtones of Nazi cruelty. It didn't feel like there was any methodology to the madness. If thats what people are looking for when watching this movie then by all means. However for me, I feel like there are plenty more substantial films that do what The Captain sets out to and better, with some greater substance.

It's beautifully lit and shot movie. Greatly edited. Boldly directed. Yet somehow empty. Brings to my mind great "Ravenous" by Katherine Bigelow - the same, bit weird, grotesque, satirical tone of the story, the same kind of director's interest in evil within any of us. But - from staging and casting, trough costumes, props, locations, acting, cinematography, to editing, and the role of music and color - "The Captain" is much much much better, more consistent and more determined in terms of aesthetics than Bigelow's vision. And, in the same time, much much much more misleading in terms of its identity. You really can't tell WHAT kind of movie this is exactly - a bit thriller, a bit war cinema, a bit western, a bit drama, a bit dark comedy, a bit fairy-tale, a bit noir, even a bit horror and poetry.... It's refreshing to see WWII topic being treated with such a nonchalant attitude (Tarantino does not count - he is just a separate ligue of his own, and his aims with "Glorious Bestards" are just completely different in my opinion), but on the other hand "The Captain" seems bit immature, bit comic-like, bit 'form-over-substance' kind of thing. But... on the other hand again - the grotesque immaturity of depiction corresponds with grotesque immaturity of the very young main character who's real-life doings were the core of the story. On the other hand though... end credits add another layer of interpretation to the mix. And so on, and so on.

Very thought provoking movie - if you like to think about cinema's language and purpose, or the reasons behind every evil (or even about a role of ego in those two areas respectively). Not so much if you want to explore REAL dilemmas and REAL tragedies of WWII - here, those are SURREAL rather.

Summing up - definitely worth watching, as a somehow different approach to an already very well covered subject.

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.

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.

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