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Before the Fall

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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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Release:

Jun 13, 2006

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Reviews for Before the Fall

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Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
10/18/08
Eddie Cockrell
Eddie Cockrell
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
04/07/06
Terry Lawson
Terry Lawson
Detroit Free Press
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It asks us to sympathize with teenage boys being groomed for National Socialist glory, and for that reason alone, it absorbs.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
03/24/06
Amy Biancolli
Amy Biancolli
Houston Chronicle
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... hooks you by focusing on Friedrich's very human story.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
03/10/06
Ruthe Stein
Ruthe Stein
San Francisco Chronicle
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The film is a competent but callow work dealing with a monstrous subject that automatically rejects callowness.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
02/24/06
Michael Phillips
Michael Phillips
Chicago Tribune
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A fascinating look at a little-known aspect of the Nazi regime.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
01/12/06
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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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.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
01/06/06
Janice Page
Janice Page
Boston Globe
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A work of exemplary craftsmanship, crisp and forthright yet modulated by subtle nuances, Before the Fall ranks high among the year's films.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
11/18/05
Kevin Thomas
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
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The movie's own moral stance is above reproach, and the two leads are engaged enough to make you care about the outcome.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
10/29/05
Gene Seymour
Gene Seymour
Newsday
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This well-made World War II film from Germany is both a coming-of-age story and a critique of National Socialist ideology.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
10/21/05
Richard James Havis
Richard James Havis
Hollywood Reporter
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The acting is believable; the photography, atmospheric; and the moral, unmistakable.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
10/07/05
V.A. Musetto
V.A. Musetto
New York Post
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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.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
10/07/05
Jack Mathews
Jack Mathews
New York Daily News
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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.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
10/06/05
Jeannette Catsoulis
Jeannette Catsoulis
New York Times
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We get tepid moralizing on dehumanization in the military.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
10/04/05
R. Emmet Sweeney
R. Emmet Sweeney
Village Voice
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