A fascinating look at a little-known aspect of the Nazi regime.
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01/12/06
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Before the Fall (2004)
67
%
Tomatometer
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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.
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Reviews for Before the Fall
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08/26/06
The best thing about Gansel's film is it doesn't ask you to absolve anyone; it only tries to make everyone a little more human.
01/06/06
Though well-made, Before the Fall never really comes to cinematic life.
10/07/05
The film is a competent but callow work dealing with a monstrous subject that automatically rejects callowness.
02/24/06
Top CriticGansel crafts story and characters to show us a rare but possible youth of Nazi Germany whose inborn morality is not subject to "training.
08/25/05
The plotting is too obvious, too contrived and too convenient.
04/28/06
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.
04/07/06
Top CriticThe 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.
10/07/05
Gansel is to be commended for finding a way to tell a beautiful story simultaneous with indicting his countrymen for their ugliness.
05/30/06
With an intelligent and fearless script and two winning performances by the young male leads, Napola is a testament to uncompromising film-making from beginning to end.
02/16/05
Unfortunately, the more 'realistic' the film seems, the less pleasant it is to watch.
10/29/05
Before The Fall packs a wallop, even if the ending is sentimentalized - the impact is more a jab than a right hook.
10/10/05
I guarantee you nothing this cheesy happened during World War I.
10/07/05
This well-made World War II film from Germany is both a coming-of-age story and a critique of National Socialist ideology.
10/21/05
It asks us to sympathize with teenage boys being groomed for National Socialist glory, and for that reason alone, it absorbs.
03/24/06
Completely predictable but affecting nonetheless, proof that when movie clichés are presented with rigor and feeling, they can pack a fresh punch.
11/17/05
Gansel and his screenwriting partner, Maggie Gansel, bring not a whiff of fresh nor penetrating insight to these subjects.
11/18/05
A work of exemplary craftsmanship, crisp and forthright yet modulated by subtle nuances, Before the Fall ranks high among the year's films.
11/18/05
Top CriticBankrupt fascist politics and a talent in the ring combine to force decisions no teenager should have to make.
10/14/05
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