THE CAPTAIN

Film Review by FIORE

As one of Pittsburgh’s, and the nation’s, premiere critics, I find it pleasantly enjoyable when studios provide foreign films throughout the year.  Normally, films that could contend for Best Foreign Film consideration are dumped on critics weeks before nomination ballots, causing a logjam of movies requiring a more intense viewing experience.  Having received THE CAPTAIN this early in the year, gave me the opportunity to watch, and enjoy this film in a leisurely manner; and that, after all, is how films should be viewed.

For some years, filmmaker Robert Schwentke played the Hollywood game with marked success, but his return to Germany with the release of THE CAPTAIN could be his tour de force.  This film is engrossing and serves as a chilling treatise on some disturbing commonalities of mankind.

It is mere weeks before the end of WWII.  The German army, on the brink of collapse, is plagued by deserters and looters, seeking survival before the country’s cataclysmic end.  One such deserter is private Willi Herold, played exceptionally well by Max Hubacher.  Chased through the forest by the Nazis, he manages to elude his pursuers and begin a trek towards a new life.  Along the way, he stumbles upon an abandoned car.  Inside is a suitcase with a Nazi Captain’s uniform.  Willi steals the uniform and is amazed at how the people he meets quickly accept him as an authority figure.  Willi uses his guile to continue the ruse while slowly transforming into the very persona he ran away from at the film’s beginning.  Ironically, Willi’s troupe of followers is comprised of deserters like him, but to whom he gives a perceived second chance.

Starring with Hubacher are:  Milan Peschel; Frederick Lau; Waldemar Kobus;  and Alexander Fehling.  Most notable in the cast, outside of Hubacher is Peschel, who plays Freytag,  Willi’s right hand man.

THE CAPTAIN is too long.  Though an engrossing tale, several key sequences, like the exploits in Camp II are repetitious.  This is a common trait in foreign films.  American filmmakers, at one time, could pride themselves on brevity.  For the sake of diversity, Hollywood became enamored with European, Asian and Mexican directors, who brought with them their own editors, and American films, as I decry on numerous occasions, also became too long.  Editor Michal Czarnecki could easily trim twenty-five minutes from THE CAPTAIN, which would serve to make the film even more powerful.

Florian Ballhaus is remarkable behind the camera.  Combined with the efforts of Production Designer Harald Turzer and Set Decorator Alwara Thaler, they present THE CAPTAIN in glorious black and white, giving the film an authentic mien.  The use of lighting is exceptional.

Save from the little peccadillo of length, THE CAPTAIN is an amazing film from both the technical and thespian perspectives.  I quite enjoyed it, and think you will, too.  It will make my short list for Best Foreign Film, even though it’s only July.