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Before the Fall (2004)
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Reviews Counted:13
Fresh:9
Rotten:4
Average Rating:6.6/10
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
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.
It asks us to sympathize with teenage boys being groomed for National Socialist glory, and for that reason alone, it absorbs.
The film is a competent but callow work dealing with a monstrous subject that automatically rejects callowness.
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.
A work of exemplary craftsmanship, crisp and forthright yet modulated by subtle nuances, Before the Fall ranks high among the year's films.
The movie's own moral stance is above reproach, and the two leads are engaged enough to make you care about the outcome.
This well-made World War II film from Germany is both a coming-of-age story and a critique of National Socialist ideology.
The acting is believable; the photography, atmospheric; and the moral, unmistakable.
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.
Set in Berlin in 1942, Dennis Gansel's intensely beautiful film brings us inside Hitler's network of elite schools to groom young Germans for positions of power.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 15% 15% | The Ugly Truth |
| 98% 98% | Up |
| 36% 36% | G.I. Joe: The Rise of … |
| 52% 52% | The Taking of Pelham 1… |
| 45% 45% | Ice Age: Dawn of the D… |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 68% 68% | Funny People |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| 45% 45% | Shorts |
| 53% 53% | David & Layla |
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