Rommel, le stratège du 3ème Reich

After being promoted to field marshal and being nicknamed the "Desert Fox" in North Africa, Erwin Rommel (Ulrich Tukur) is put in command of the German forces in northern France to defend against the imminent Allied invasion. Meanwhile there's a plot to assassinate Hitler and negotiate with the Allies since the writing was on the wall. What did Rommel know and not know about this intrigue? Benjamin Sadler (Gen. Speidel), Tim Bergmann (Hofacker) and Johannes Silberschneider (Hitler) are on hand.

A German/French/Austrian production, "Rommel" (2012) focuses on the behind-the-scenes events of the German high command mixed with occasional real-life B&W footage. It's a war drama rather than action flick and is a nice counterbalance to "Saving Private Ryan" (1997), which shows the Allied invasion, and "Valkyrie" (2008), which details Colonel von Stauffenberg's modified Operation Valkyrie to seize control of Germany from the Nazis. The events shown in "Fury" (2014) occur several months later.

While made-for-TV, this is a top-notch production in the same league as "The Longest Day" (1962) and "The Young Lions" (1958), albeit in living color and without the action. It boggles the mind to consider how the filmmakers were able to keep all the details in order to produce such an engaging war drama. I should add that the bulk of the dialogue is in German (or French), so you'll have to use the subtitles if you don't know those languages.

The film runs 1 hour, 58 minutes, and was shot in France (La Roche Guyon & Audinghen, Pas-de-Calais) and Germany.

GRADE: B+

This movie has the German stamp of quality: Good acting, good attention to details (uniforms, military equipment), great scenery and great sense of authenticity. If you are interested in history, this movie will take you in the atmosphere of those days. And it will do that so good that you'll have the impression that you see the actual events taking place. However, it lacks the story. Yes, the events did take place as they were presented, but the subject had tremendous potential: Hitler was a crazy and was obviously leading the entire country to disaster. Edwin Rommel could have been representative to all generals around the world who were torn apart between the sworn allegiance to their country and the resistance to the lunatic currently in charge. This could have been the symbol movie for all other military in similar cases: The STASI police, who let the Berlin wall fall although in other occasions they shot everyone who fled into West Berlin. The Romanian generals who refused to shot their own population, although they were ordered to do so by Ceausescu. And all other crazy dictators like Antonio Salazar, Rafael Trujillo, Mohamad Gadaffi, Saddam Hussein, Mobutu Sese Seko, François Duvalier or Kim Jong Il, they all had honest generals in their army serving their countries. Maybe not many, but some of them had problems with their conscience in one way or another and they were forced to make difficult decisions.

Same with Rommel here. Yes, he betrays the Fuhrer, but Hitler is not Germany. Yes, he could be killed if he fails. He will probably be killed too if they're on the losing side of the war. But this maniac would rather give cyanide pills to all Germany than to surrender. What's the right thing to do? To whom does a military sworn allegiance to? To the leader or to the people? Instead of exploiting all this drama, the director of this movie chose to make this film a documentary.

If you are interested in WWII movies and enjoy a very realistic dramatic movie rather than an action movie this is the one for you. Great acting by German actors, realistic plots and much detail spend on uniforms, armor and real live settings in WWII. The Geman language enhances the reality of the movie. Ulrich Tukur plays Rommel with great resemblance and talent.The movie reveals the man Rommel and his aversion of Hitle in the afterdaysr and the Plot to kill Hitler (you must remember Valkyrie: with Tom Cruise). Though casted very well, it is hard to identify yourself with the main character. The actors each are casted very well, with actors who play the German Generals and officers with great resemblance. Hope you enjoy the movie!

It's an exceptionally good television movie. The performances are uniformly fine, the photography is crisp, judicious use is made of computer-generated effect, and the narrative covering the last seven months of Field Marshall Ervin Rommel is convincing.

It's less dramatic and more believable than James Mason's tortured Rommel in "The Desert Fox," less corny actually. This Rommel never kisses his wife, Lucy. He just nuzzles her. And he does not stop on the doorstep every time he leaves and whisper, "Good-bye, Darling." Ulrich Tukur's Rommel marches through his battles and finds himself in a conundrum with only one solution. He's all business and dignity. The effect is less dramatic but more believable.

In "The Desert Fox" we are never told exactly what it was that Rommel did that earned him a death sentence. Here, we learn that he knew of the plot against Hitler but refused involvement. He would have gone along with Hitler's arrest but not his assassination. That accords with what I've read elsewhere. He knew something was afoot, and he knew many of the men behind the plan, but not exactly what they intended.

In "The Desert Fox," Mason as Rommel protests that he is a soldier, not a politician. Here the message is spelled out in boldface. He had wistful dreams, not mentioned in this film, of surrendering peacefully to the Western Allies and perhaps even forming an alliance with them against the Bolsheviks. That's not a politician speaking.

The story is a kind of docudrama in which events are presented pretty much as they happened. Private conversations, of course, are fabricated. However, it's gripping throughout -- a docudrama, yes, but a very carefully thought-out and executed docudrama.

This is a very even handed portrayal of the last days of Rommel. Some WWII movies intentionally ramp up the drama just to sell tickets. This was a very authentic feeling conveyance of Rommel's last days. We get to see that he was a man who desired to serve his country but not take part of the war crimes. He was also portrayed as an honest, intelligent, and honorable man, not one to side with the butchery or perverse desires of Hitler. Enjoyed the film from start to finish. Great job