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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 is to be commended for finding a way to tell a beautiful story simultaneous with indicting his countrymen for their ugliness.
Friedrich isn't particularly sharp, but Riemelt's wonderfully nuanced performance gives him intricate layers of feeling.
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.
One senses that Gansel took the most egregious stories from his research and stuffed them all into the shapeless script.
The film is a competent but callow work dealing with a monstrous subject that automatically rejects callowness.
... the coming-of-age military drama is... the same old drill driven by brutal master race fervor.
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.
Gansel and his screenwriting partner, Maggie Gansel, bring not a whiff of fresh nor penetrating insight to these subjects.
A work of exemplary craftsmanship, crisp and forthright yet modulated by subtle nuances, Before the Fall ranks high among the year's films.
Completely predictable but affecting nonetheless, proof that when movie clichés are presented with rigor and feeling, they can pack a fresh punch.
| 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 |
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