Der Hauptmann (2017)
Genre: Drama / History
Duration: 118 minuten
Alternative title: The Captain
Country:
Germany / France / Poland / China / Portugal
Directed by: Robert Schwentke
Stars: Max Hubacher, Frederick Lau and Alexander Fehling
IMDb score:
7,3 (23.961)
Releasedate: 2 February 2018
Der Hauptmann plot
"Follow the leader"
The last days of the Second World War. Anarchy and random killings take over as the demoralized Wehrmacht hunts down every soldier separated from his unit and labeled a potential deserter and traitor. Narrowly escaping the patrols in gloomy Emsland, 19-year-old Corporal Willi Herold finds an abandoned uniform of a captain of the German Air Force. Disguised as 'Hauptmann Herold', Willi gathers soldiers to carry out an imaginary assignment that he is said to have received personally from Hitler himself.
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Actors and actresses
Herold
Freytag
Kipinski
Junker
Gerda
Hansen
Corporal Paul
Brockhoff
Schnabel Wirt
Sichner
Reviews & comments
mrklm
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- 11629 messages
- 10041 votes
Unbalanced and disappointingly superficial reconstruction of the atrocities committed by a German military unit led by Willi Herold [Max Hubacher], a deserter who manages to escape a group of drunken soldiers who were (quite literally) hunting him. When he finds a captain's uniform in the wreckage of an army vehicle, he sees his chance and poses as a Nazi captain. In that capacity, he manages to get several strands of other deserters under his command.
Director/screenwriter Robert Schwentke apparently knows little about the bizarre story himself. It starts out as a black-comedy variation on The Inspector General, in which Herold has to improvise to protect his false identity, but it's completely unclear what transformed Herold into 'the executioner of Emsland'. As a result, the second half is actually no more than a series of atrocities that, despite the fact that there are some beautifully filmed moments, hardly have any dramatic effect.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Film Pegasus (moderator films)
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- 31191 messages
- 5473 votes
It is known that the Nazi regime was to a large extent a process of all small cogs with people participating in it as an enlarged bureaucracy without (wanting) to realize what they were working on. The story of Der Hauptmann seems exaggerated, but it really happened. Broadly speaking, it means two things. The effect of a uniform that creates a feeling of power. Also think of the film Das Experiment in which half of a group plays a guard and the other half a prisoner. It actually happened with the same result, in which the uniform provides greater self-confidence and a sense of power. In addition, there is the bureaucracy, where there seems to be no problem as long as the rules are followed. And even if it appears to be an ethical issue, the response will be according to the rules.
However you look at it, this concept already makes for a fascinating story. But the decoration is also nicely done. Of course in black and white, as is often the case with war films. But with beautiful photography and lighting. And the effect of, for example, a bomb attack or shooting hits hard.
Translated from Dutch · View original
des1
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- 1737 messages
- 993 votes
Mostly truthful, this story from chimney sweep to Hauptmann. Willi Herold | The executioner of the Emsland – Holland Magazine - holland-magazine.nl The suggestion in the film was made that the prisoners were mostly German deserters. It's not, Herold had captured Allied soldiers killed. Reason why he was also tried and hanged by the British. Nice adaptation of this sad story.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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