Le Réseau Edelweiss Pirates

I only heard about the Edelweiss Piraten very recently so I was very curious about the movie, as the the rating of this movie on IMDb wasn't particularly high. I must say I am very glad having ingnored it and following the experience that German history is best served from German movie makers. The fact that the story is being told by a genuine former EdelweissPiraten-member Jean Jülich gives the authenticity of the movie very much credit, as well as the camera. The story is being followed by the viewer always from the point of a direct atendee of the scene which really adds to the dramatic effect. My rating would be 8.7, therefore i choose 9

It shows that not all germans were nazis during that time.

While the title makes it sound like a combination of The Sound of Music and a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, this is actually a serious film about the real-life Edelweiss Piraten, a loosely organized gang of German anti-Hitler youth who harassed the Nazis and hid Jews and others who were in trouble.

It's the last days of World War II, bombing raids are nearly a daily threat, but the Nazis are still very much in charge. The youths use the bombing raids as cover for their guerrilla activities, and not all of them survive. Both they and the people they are protecting are constantly in danger, especially when, like the main character, they have gung ho Nazi sympathizers in the family.

The characters are half-starved and living in rubble, but they still manage to keep their integrity and fighting spirit, all the more remarkable, since they would have spent most of their lives under Hitler.

In the end of World War II, in the bombed Köln, the teenager Karl Ripke (Iwan Stebunov) lost his old brother in the war while his father is fighting in the front. His younger brother Peter (Simon Taal) belongs to the Hitlerian Youth while Karl belongs to the gang Edelweiss Pirates that fight against the Nazis and steals food supplies for their families. Karl has a crush on his sister-in-law Cilly Serve (Anna Thalbach), who raises her daughter and her son with his brother alone. When Karl finds the German prisoner Hans Steinbrück (Bela B. Felsenheimer) wounded in the middle of wrecks, he hides the man; later, Hans saves Cilly's little son and she lodges him at her home in return. Meanwhile, Peter discovers that his father was not pro-Hitler, leaves the Hitlerian Youth and joins the Edelweiss Pirates. Hans becomes a leader of the group and teaches the youths to use weapons and organize an armed resistance. When Hans is betrayed by a former pal, the Gestapo chases the Edelweiss Pirates, forcing Karl to take a difficult decision to save his brother.

"Edelweißpiraten" shows a sad historic event about a group of youngsters in Köln that were against the regime of Hitler. The story is simple and very dramatic, with great direction, performances and locations. The importance of this production is not the story itself, but to disclose to the world that there were many people in Germany that opposed to the cruelty of the Nazis and that were tortured and destroyed like enemies. The characters are not Jews or allies, but Germans that did not agree with the Nazi Party. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Irmãos de Guerra" ("Brothers of War")

In many ways, a genuine oddity. It's a period film, yet made with a very modern, handheld shakycam style, where you can barely tell what's happening, as most of the action is missed by the camera whipping past it. Some of the sound is poor, so you have to rely on subtitles, even if you can understand the German. Despite these obstacles, there are some fine performances trying to get out, and it's a heart-rending story of survival in the face of adversity that makes you very glad that you haven't had to live through it yourself. Probably worth a look for German language fans and WW2 completists, but a tough proposition for general film watchers.