SOPHIE SCHOLL: THE FINAL DAYS
Directed by: Marc Rothemund.
Produced by: Christoph Mueller, Sven Burgemeister, Fred Breinersdorfer & Marc Rothemund.
Written by: Fred Breinersdorfer.
Director of Photography: Martin Langer.
Edited by: Hans Funck.
Music by: Johnny Klimek & Reinhold Heil.
Released by: Zeigeist.
Language: German with English subtitles.
Country of Origin: German. 117 min. Not Rated.
With: Julia Jentsch, Alexander Held & Fabian Hinrichs.
DVD Features: Double-sided disc. Side one: 16:9 anamorphic transfer; U.S. trailer; Optional English subtitles. Side Two: “The Making of Sophie Scholl” – one hour of behind-the-scenes production footage & on-location interviews; Thirteen deleted & alternate scenes; Historical interviews about the real Sophie Scholl & The White Rose, including archival trial footage; Optional English subtitles. DVD packaging also contains interview with director and background on The White Rose leaflets.

During the height of World War II, 21-year-old Sophie Scholl (portrayed by Julia Jentsch), one of Nazi Germany’s most famous dissidents, was charged with high treason. Both she and her older brother Hans (Fabian Hinrichs), who had served in France, were apprehended after distributing anti-Nazi pamphlets at the elite Munich University. Sophie Scholl was executed only days later after a show trial.

The adrenaline rush as brother and sister place their leaflets in deserted hallways gives way to the somber and tense tempo of the film’s centerpiece: Sophie’s stand-off with Investigator Robert Mohr (Alexander Held). Staring her interrogator straight in the eyes, Scholl doesn’t break a sweat; she denies any involvement with politics and holds her own as Mohr rants. Only a close-up of her hands twitching under the table belies her nerves. One breakdown Scholl does allow for herself is in the bathroom – alone.

What makes the interrogation especially involving, besides Jentsch’s steely performance, is her sparring partner. As the Gestapo officer, Held modulates his performance, often emulating Jentsch by keeping his cards close to his vest. Straightforwardly scripted, it’s not difficult to imagine this earnest and powerful, though conventional, retelling as if it were an original Playhouse 90 production (as was Judgment at Nuremberg).

Unlike the 1983 drama The White Rose – focusing more on the history of these student resisters – the newer film deals with her last stand. Percy Adlon’s Five Last Days also covers the same ground, though told from the point of view of Sophie’s cellmate. The portraits of the two Sophie Scholls are similarly drawn, though Sophie Scholl’s is more beatific – blinding rays of sunlight spill out of the prison window as she prays. This version, drawn largely from the actual transcripts of Gestapo interrogations discovered in 1990, serves as a reminder of the few politically savvy Germans who rebelled despite the overwhelming odds. Kent Turner
February 17, 2006

DVD Extras: The brief archival trial footage stuns the viewer more than any other element, since it reinforces just how much events in life can be more complicated and, at times, incredible than they are portrayed in a dramatized reenactment – with notorious Judge Roland Freisler, however menacing and crazed he’s depicted in the movie, actually being more over-the-top in real life, as White Rose member Franz Müller states in his interview.

The historical interviews succeed in communicating one of the most fascinating aspects of the film: daily life for Germans under the Nazi regime. Müller discusses the nature of duty as opposed to heroism in terms of the group’s actions, and Walter Gebel, the nephew of Sophie’s cellmate Else Gebel, explains how Sophie faced death in a trance-like state. Willi Mohr, talking about his father, interrogating officer Mohr, lets a few strains show, drawing a picture of a forbiddingly severe parent, who was so rigidly strict and fear-inspiring that his son did not disclose his father’s Gestapo rank to his friends – they would have been worried to even talk to him. The interview with Elisabeth Hartnagel, Sophie’s sister, is further revealing; she went on to marry Sophie’s fiancé Fritz.

The behind-the-scenes documentary is especially fascinating. The film was made while keeping today’s current political climate very much in mind. It also emphasizes that the Nazi court anti-resistance rulings weren’t made officially null and void until the 1980s and dwells on the more gory details of the guillotine. However, while the film’s effectively conveying the reversal of the roles of interrogator and interrogated is properly stressed, the doc does itself little good by using what could be described as “cha-cha” music on its soundtrack. Reymond Levy
November 13, 2006