Sophie Scholl Die Letzten Tage

Now it's summer, and exams are over, I should be able to watch a lot more films and write more on this blog. 

A while ago, I watched Sophie Scholl The Final Days, which tells the story (last 6 days) of the real life Scholl siblings who lived in Munich during WW2 and were part of the underground white rose student resistance group and were involved in publishing and spreading leaflets about the Nazi atrocities which were taking place at the time. 

Julia Jentsch played the part of "Sophie" really convincingly and it was possible to see how, when and why decisions were made, which is all credit to the actress who played her.

The film, of course, deals with very difficult subjects, the show-trial, the tearing up of the truth, basic freedoms etc. and the film handles this very well, so credit to the director, Marc Rothemund. There is even time for some humour and two particular bits stick very much in mind. The heart of the film involves a number of interrogations of Sophie by a Gestapo police detective, played by Robert Mohr. The detective is a committed Nazi and demonstrates his competency in taking apart Sophie's alibis. But we also see in him a grudging respect for this 21-year-old who has more courage than he knows he ever will. He even gives her a chance to escape the gallows, but she refuses, saying, "I won't betray my friends in order to save my own skin." We are also lead perhaps to the possibility that some of the things that Sophie was saying to him may have actually gone in and that it was he, who arranged the final meeting of the condemned. Which is a touching part. We see the rigid determination on Sophie's face throughout the interrogations and subsequent show trial, we also see the normal fear that anyone would have in that circumstance. 

The tone of the movie is very understated and low-key and the story's natural drama is allowed to shine out (I guess because it's almost a documentary), making the emotional punch of the movie that much more effective. Sophie's sheer courage, knowing fully well what her final verdict will be (the trial is definitely a farce!) and her firm and unbreakable beliefs, are truly inspirational, and these siblings will always be remembered. It's definitely a film to watch, and a good way of learning about the past.