The Captain (2018)

In the film Willi Herold is shown as a man that was forced into his actions to save his own life, like everyone human would do and that thereby he even saved the lifes of others... and I think its important to be very carefull with this information.

Greetings again from the darkness. It's mind-boggling how many fascinating stories - both large and small - continue to come from World War II, even 75 years later. Writer/director Robert Schwentke (RED, FLIGHTPLAN) abruptly opens his latest with a single soldier desperately running from a posse of Nazi soldiers who appear to be hunting him down. The soldier manages to escape, kicking off an incredible journey that we are informed occurred during the final two weeks of the war (April 1945). Max Hubacher stars as Willi Herold, the soldier we are to assume has deserted his military outfit and is now dirty, hungry and cold as he evades German patrols. Things change drastically for Herold when he stumbles on an abandoned suitcase neatly packed with a German Captain's coat and full uniform. We are left to wonder what happened to the officer, but do get to watch Willi's crazy next few days as he impersonates a German officer and assumes command of his situation.Circumstances result in "Captain" Herold gaining followers, each of whom are as lost or unwilling to continue fighting as himself. The ragtag group ends up at prison camp Aschendorfermoor ... a camp containing German deserters and looters. Herold has convinced those in charge that he has direct orders from Hitler to take command of the camp, and a horrific massacre of prisoners takes place over the next few days.While this is a stunning story ripped from historical documents, the film works even better as a psychological character study. Herold first employs his newfound power as a survival strategy, but he is soon corrupted by the power of his assumed position. We witness as some blindly follow orders, and we watch (dumbfounded) as Herold's thirst for power overtakes whatever integrity he might have had prior to the desperation injected by war. The film moves at a meticulous pace and at times feels redundant. It could have been a stellar short film, but director Schwentke uses the slow pace to allow our shock to grow as Herold evolves into a coy monster (with a fine performance from Mr. Hubacher). Filmed in stark black and white, it offers some beautiful shots from cinematographer Florian Ballhaus (THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA), the son of famed cinematographer and 3 time Oscar nominee Michael Ballhaus (GANGS OF NEW YORK). The elder Ballhaus passed away in 2017, and the son continues to build his own legacy. Set in Germany during April 1945, this blend of docudrama and black comedy is a collaboration of German, Poland and France, and as a true story, packs quite a punch.

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

Halfway through I was thinking about leaving the cinema, which I never do. The sheer brutality of the images is unbearable at times and I consider it reassuring to my mental condition that it is. But what was more unsettling is this feeling that the movie chose this serious setting simply to get away with disgusting violence. Of course this is not a new discussion, Inglorious Basterds, which I loved, comes to mind. But while IB did not pretend to be serious, this one seemingly does. It takes the absurdly-cruel parts of other great films (think of the jammed executioners gun in Schindlers List and others) and throws them together, making you think of these great movie-moments and forgiving that this one actually is not very good. The first act was great, threw us into the story right away, it catches the viewer. But then? It pretends to be a study on the brutality of men but is it? What we see are not men. These are monsters. Everything that would link their behaviour to that of normal people is gone. No backstory, no motivations explained. Anything that would make the viewer go "shit, that could be me!" is taken out in favour of evil monsters from planet Nazi in a galaxy far far away raging around. This depiction of fascism as a mere costume of evil has always bugged me. And while Inglorious Basterds or even the Indiana Jones movies with their Nazis do not try to be serious I could enjoy the stereotypical bad guys portrait in them. This movie on the other hand pretends it has something important to tell about human psyche. But it does not, there is better ones that actually tell you WHY people get brutal and don't just show images that make you go: "Wow. That was cruel". The images are moving but only in a way that "Saw" or "Hostel" are moving. If you make a movie set in Nazi-Germany be aware of the seriousness of the topic and dont let viewers get away with the sheer impression that the Nazis were unmotivated, alien monsters with just an inherent evilness.Surprisingly the credits rocked me. They made me perplexed, they made me laugh, they gave me a real feeling of absurdity but as they continued, they made me scared, they left me thinking. Everything I was lacking before - it was in the credits.