The Red Baron (2010)

Beautiful cinematography, with a great music score. Probably the least sloppy about historical accuracy, when compared to all the other aerial combat films that have been released in the last 25 years. George Lucas said he made Red Tails to make a dogfight movie the way a dogfight movie should be made but, I would have to say this 2010 release of The Red Baron is the best dogfight movie I have ever seen.The CGI work in creating the dogfights scenes, composited in with the footage of real live actors, was superb and spectacular but the story was bigger than the aerial combat sequences.The profanity and sex in this film was so light, it could have been rated G. I thought the violent war scenes were very realistic but not gratuitously graphic. Perhaps the violence is what gave this movie a PG13 rating.I have not looked up the discrepancies but I'm sure a lot of creative license was taken with the story, when compared to the historical narrative. But, I'm OK with that as long as it looks compelling and believable. I did, however, have a problem with the story having the Red Baron land in a farm field to chat with an enemy allied pilot while his squadron was still up in the air fighting. I know Manfred Von Richthofen was always looking out for his squadron and he would have not left them alone, fighting in a furball, so that he could chat with an enemy acquaintance. This particular departure from the historical narrative made Manfred an un-sympathetic protagonist, at this point in the story. I was able to put that scene behind me as a screen writer's fopah and still enjoy the movie immensely.The casting was superb. I think American film producers need to seriously consider using Matthias Schweighofer and Til Schweiger in some future big Hollywood movie productions. On IMDb, I see that this has already happened with Til Schweiger.I think I will want to buy a DVD copy of this well done film.

Thought I would enjoy this movie, but found it to be slow, a bit boring, and a bit difficult to follow the plot and characters.Acting was okay, but could have been better. The disc should have contained English subtitles, but only had FRENCH subtitles on it. What if a deaf English-speaking person wished to view this movie? Flying scenes were well done but the CGI was too obvious. Trying to connect plot point "A" to "B" and so on, I found difficult. They could have approached it more as a documentary than trying to turn it into a historical romance.If you have an afternoon to spare, watch it. Otherwise, move along.Personally, I liked the horses in the movie the best!

I have a couple of thoughts on this film both positive and negative.The positives first reason.WW1 has been largely forgotten or remembered as being in the far distant past with little relevance.We are but 2 years from the 100 anniversary of the start of that war and many issue of that day remain now and plague us still.Any thing to remind us of that terrible war and the little that it resolved, is sorely needed and should be seen. The positive second reason is anything about "The Red Baron"The only hero of a enemy this country celebrates thanks to the "Peanuts" comic strip character of Snoopy as the Red Baron and a Christmas song commemorating that. Now the negatives.First,Matthias Schweighöfer as Manfred von Richthofen don't have the gravitas to carry out such historical character.he's badly overshadowed in the scenes with Lena Headey as Käte Otersdorf and even Joseph Fiennes as Capt. Roy Brown who would have been a better choice to play the baron. Now considering this is a movie and NOT a documentary,its not really important if there was a real romance between Kate and Manfred.It's enough that they knew each other and a dog was there and a character named Doring which I assume is meant to be Goring,the future Nazi leader of the German airfare in WW11,who historically later replaced him and the fact he was killed in the last German offensive of the war,the "Michael".History is told by the winners and facts get "tweaked"all the time.I see no bad tweaks when compared to the facts of depicted of the terrible war. Just judging it on its merits,the old planes and dog fights are great.The few ground battle scenes are horrific and the illusion of gallantry in the air is maintained as if there were two separate wars being fought. Sadly the casting of Matthias Schweighöfer as Manfred von Richthofen is the major downer for me.

Baron Manfred von Richthofen (aka the eponymous Red Baron) was the top-scoring ace of the First World War with an amazing 80 victories credited to him, so it is little wonder that the contemporary German film industry would be tempted to make a big budget movie on his life and exploits but, even 90 years later, this is a tricky subject for Germans and writer and director Nikolai Müllerschön was taking a commercial risk. He compounded the risk by taking massive liberties with the historic record and by shooting the movie in English to give it more international appeal. The movie crashed and burned - and it's not difficult to see why.Germans did not like the use of English and did not find find credible the politically correct representation of Richthofen as someone disillusioned with war and willing to take on the country's political and military leadership. Germans and non-Germans alike were astonished at what Müllerschön included and excluded in his narrative. So much of what is portrayed is simply fiction, notably Richthofen's shooting down of Captain Roy Brown and meeting with him in No Man's Land and the whole of the romance with the nurse Käte Otersdorf. Conversely all the critical incidents in Richthofen's war career are mysteriously omitted, such as his friendship with Oswald Boelcke and his combat with Lanoe Hawker and (most astonishing of all) his death.The acting - largely from a young German cast - is adequate with Matthias Schweighöfer quite dashing and charismatic as the young ace. The choice of non-German actors was odd though: the British Joseph Fiennes struggling with a Canadian accent as Roy Brown and the British Lena Headey who seems to have a French accent as the German nurse Käte Otersdorf. The script is clunky and the cutting spasmodic.Having said all this, aircraft buffs will want to see the film for its authentic recreation of the period in costumes and vehicles, its representation of a variety of First World War aircraft, and its exciting use of CGI (although the action is shown as faster and closer than was actually the case).