♥♥♥♥♥
+ Best Boxing Movie of the Year + Best German Movie of the Year + Best Huge Flop Movie of the Year + Best War Movie of the Year + Most Under-Appreciated Movie of the Year
 |
| An inharmonious poster for Dennis Gansel's Before the Fall, which highlights its two attractive young male leads and the fascism that they face |
In 1942, Friedrich is a young German boxer who is discovered and then encouraged to apply to one of Hitler's NaPolA schools, (which were to educate the future political and military elite of the Nazi empire.) But despite the promising and adventurous prospects, his meeting with fascism becomes merciless.
Before the Fall is written by Maggie Peren (Kiss and Run (2002)) and its great German co-writer/director Dennis Gansel (Girls on Top/Mädchen Mädchen! (2001)), based on the real Nazi NaPolA schools (short for National Political Institutes of Education) and first-hand knowledge from Gansel's grandfather's experience in one of these.
It is a thoroughly well-made film, which offers a new perspective on the Nazi era; that of the thousands of German children and youths who were inducted witlessly into the evil paradigms of Nazism.
The film's production design is unostentatious and credible throughout, and the performances are outstanding, achieving impressive authenticity: In particular Max Riemelt (The Wave/Die Welle (2008)) as young, beautiful Friedrich, SPOILER the protagonist who in the end seems to come to terms with the fact that he loves his tragically sensitive homosexual friend Albrecht. Tom Schilling (Woman in Gold (2015)) is also brilliant as Albrecht. The boys' fathers and the tough commanders in the school are also always credibly portrayed.
The relatively small story here stays clear of the later mass deaths of NaPolA students at the war's conclusion, but it works excellently as an also finely photographed (by Torsten Breuer (Bandits (1997))) story of some of WWII's victims, far from the battlegrounds. It is a strong and in places heartbreaking portrait of a tragic heritage.
Related posts:
2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Cost: Reportedly 4.5 mil. $
Box office: 3.7 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 0.82 times its cost)
[Before the Fall premiered 4 July (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Czech Republic) and runs 114 minutes. Gansel has named Bernardo Bertolucci's The Conformist (1970) as an inspiration for the film. Shooting took place in Germany and in Prague, Czech Republic from September - December 2003. It opened #83 to an 8k $ first weekend in 1 theater in North America, where it peaked at #70 and in 4 theaters (different weeks), had a remarkable 28 week-long run, regrettably only accruing 144k $ (3.9 % of the total gross). Main production country Germany was the by far biggest market with 3.4 mil. $ (91.9 %). North America was 2nd biggest, and Austria 3rd biggest with 97k $ (2.6 %). The film won a German Film award for its script. Gansel returned with The Wave (2008). Riemelt returned in (Feinde) (2005, short) and theatrically in Hallesche Kometen (2005); Schilling in Egoshooter (2004). Before the Fall is fresh at 67 % with a 6.37/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Before the Fall?
No comments:
Post a Comment