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Before the Fall (2004)
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Reviews Counted:36
Fresh:24
Rotten:12
Average Rating:6.4/10
Consensus: Despite a degree of predictability and cliches, the high production values and sincere performances by the leads elevate this coming-of-age story set in Nazi Germany.
Runtime: 1 hr 50 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Oct 7, 2005 Limited
Synopsis: Berlin 1942. Friedrich (Max Riemelt), is a sixteen-year old amateur boxer from a working class family, who dreams of doing something with his life. His big chance comes when he's discovered at a... Berlin 1942. Friedrich (Max Riemelt), is a sixteen-year old amateur boxer from a working class family, who dreams of doing something with his life. His big chance comes when he's discovered at a boxing match by a young man who teaches at an elite Nazi National Political School, or Napola. The young man helps Friedrich to enter the institution, and there becomes Friedrich's mentor, guiding him through the rigors of the strictly run school. Among Friedrich's new friends is Albrecht (Tom Schilling), the son of a high-ranking official. A fragile young man who prefers to train his mind rather than his body, Albrecht is critical of the Nazi ideology being crammed into the students' minds. Friedrich starts to see that there is no room here for anyone unwilling to follow the party line. After the students are forced to take part in a nighttime massacre of unarmed Russian youths in the nearby woods, Albrecht writes an essay condemning the Germans' barbarity. Friedrich knows that his best friend is on a collision course with the authorities, but is powerless to change his mind. When Albrecht's father forces his son to take back his words, Albrecht refuses - and accepts the consequences. Devastated, Friedrich vows to avenge his friend's fate, even if it means losing everything he's fought for and abandoning his dream of a better life. --© Picture This! Entertainment [More]
Starring: Max Riemelt, Tom Schilling, Justus Von Dohnanyi, Michael Schenk
Starring: Max Riemelt, Tom Schilling, Justus Von Dohnanyi, Michael Schenk
Studio: Picture This! Entertainment
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Reviews for Before the Fall
Gansel and his screenwriting partner, Maggie Gansel, bring not a whiff of fresh nor penetrating insight to these subjects.
Unfortunately, the more 'realistic' the film seems, the less pleasant it is to watch.
Nazis were once innocent children -- that, at least, is the notion behind Dennis Gansel's overcooked wartime drama about the ill-fated friendship between two teenage boys at a training school for elite German military recruits.
The film is a competent but callow work dealing with a monstrous subject that automatically rejects callowness.
A polished, German-tinged Dead Poets Society with budding SS automatons subbing in for privileged Vermont WASPs.
... the coming-of-age military drama is... the same old drill driven by brutal master race fervor.
Though well-made, Before the Fall never really comes to cinematic life.
Nearly every point made in Before the Fall, be it about militarism or the secret sexual codes of fascism, is made too obviously, or has been made before, in films from Cabaret to Europa, Europa.
One senses that Gansel took the most egregious stories from his research and stuffed them all into the shapeless script.
The Nazis were bad and evil. Is everyone clear on that? Good, because German filmmakers are finally taking a stab at the touchy subject of the Third Reich, with varying degrees of success.
It asks us to sympathize with teenage boys being groomed for National Socialist glory, and for that reason alone, it absorbs.
Friedrich isn't particularly sharp, but Riemelt's wonderfully nuanced performance gives him intricate layers of feeling.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 66% 66% | Public Enemies |
| 83% 83% | Harry Potter and the H… |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 75% 75% | Julie & Julia |
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
| 49% 49% | Taking Woodstock |
| 26% 26% | The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard |
| 47% 47% | The Girl From Monaco |
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