Napola - elite for the leader

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Movie
Original title Napola - elite for the leader
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 2004
length 117 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
JMK 12
Rod
Director Dennis Gansel
script Dennis Gansel,
Maggie Peren
production Molly von Fürstenberg ,
Viola Jäger ,
Harald Kügler
music Angelo Badalamenti ,
Normand Corbeil
camera Torsten Breuer
cut Jochen Retter
occupation

Napola - Elite für den Führer is a German feature film from 2004. It tells of the friendship that two young people form during their training in a national political educational institution (usually called Napola in colloquial terms). The main roles are played by Max Riemelt and Tom Schilling , directed by Dennis Gansel , who incorporated the experiences of his grandfather ( Lieutenant Colonel of the Bundeswehr ) at such an elite National Socialist school into the fictional plot .

action

In 1942, the year of the war , 17-year-old Friedrich was discovered during a boxing match in Wedding, Berlin, by a German and physical education teacher from the (fictional) “ Napola Allenstein ” team, who then suggested that he join Napola. Friedrich passes the entrance exams. When his father, who was critical of the regime, forbade him to go to school, he forged his signature without further ado and began his training in the new school year in order to belong to the future National Socialist elite.

The education at the school is tough, "weak people" face draconian punishments. For example, “Jungmann” Gladen, who is a bed wetter, is forced to urinate on his mattress in front of the assembled crew. But friendships also develop. Friedrich becomes friends with Albrecht, the son of Gauleiter Stein, who is a sensitive aesthetic, wants to become a writer and does not correspond to the ideal of a Napola pupil. During maneuvering exercises in the trenches , the pupils should learn how to use stick grenades . A student freezes in fear and drops the grenade after pulling the pen. At the last moment Gladen throws himself on the grenade, is torn apart by the detonation, but saves the students standing by. The subsequent memorial service is misused as a propaganda presentation.

When a group of fugitive Russian prisoners of war is said to be in a forest near the Napola one night , pupils are used to pursue them, including Friedrich and Albrecht, who are supposed to recapture the refugees in uniform and with live ammunition . In fact, they find the Russians and shoot them, but discover that, contrary to allegations, they are unarmed children. When Albrecht was still trying to save the life of a shot Russian, his father shot the Russian boy in cold blood. The other Russians are also captured and then shot. The next day, the young people should write an essay about the role of the wintry landscape in the German heroic saga. Albrecht uses the opportunity to openly criticize the nightly action and especially his father. The essay causes a stir, and Albrecht's angry father decides to send his son to the Eastern Front . The next morning the boys are supposed to dive through an ice-cold, frozen lake, about 15 meters from one hole chopped in the ice to the other, along under the ice cover. Albrecht takes his own life in front of his completely horrified and distraught friend Friedrich by sinking to the bottom under the ice surface in the icy water.

But other things count for the management of the school. Friedrich is very much hoping to bring the boxing championship trophy back to Allenstein. In a fight he seems to be superior at first, but when he looks around he realizes who and what he is fighting for, and he lets himself be knocked out without resistance. For this he is referred to the institution. The last scene of the film shows Friedrich leaving Napola Allenstein and walking away in the snowstorm in short pants.

Research and production

A dozen advisors, all of whom were former Napola students, were interviewed for the research. The main source was Uwe Lamprecht, the young man from Napola in Plön. The author Hans Müncheberg, who was also a Napola graduate, was consulted as a further historical advisor. However, he did not agree with details of the script, which he described as historical inaccuracies and inconsistencies. He suggested that the film should be played at a fictional elite school without any Nazi connection. The other contemporary witnesses used for the research did not share this opinion. Müncheberg withdrew when his suggestions were not complied with, and it was very important not to be named as a consultant in the credits of the film.

The depicted Napola did not actually exist, Allenstein was in East Prussia and not in the Warthegau - and certain storylines are either historically incorrect or exaggerated. However, the overall plot quickly makes it clear to the viewer that it is more of a drama than a historical documentary. The Napola location used in the film is Bouzov Castle in the Czech Republic , which itself was not an educational institution during the Third Reich. All exterior shots of the educational institution, the courtyard views and some interior shots were filmed there. The underwater scenes were created in a special plunge pool of the Bundeswehr in Hamburg. Countless kilograms of artificial snow were used for the sequence on the frozen lake. The actors immersed themselves in barrels of warm water.

Originally, director Dennis Gansel intended to cast the lead roles with unknown laypeople in order to allow the audience the greatest possible identification with the characters. But after none was good enough, Gansel resorted to film-experienced young actors such as Max Riemelt and Tom Schilling.

The theatrical release of Napola was on January 13, 2005, the German television premiere was on February 17, 2007 at 8:15 p.m. on ProSieben .

criticism

The German-language criticism assigned Napola to the genre of the boarding school film, with the usual ingredients of the genre, the usual staff of which is almost completely represented. The Dead Poets Club in particular was used as a reference . called. The production differs from other representatives by the historical backdrop. With their color tint of an artificial patina, the images correspond to the conventions of contemporary history film, the historical aura of dirt and ocher is achieved by means of "filters and copying".

For Hellmuth Karasek , who himself had been a Napola student, the film brought back precise memories. Karasek defended Napola against accusations of merely depicting the usual harassment that prevailed at every boarding school. The Nazis would have sharpened and strengthened this characteristic in order to instill cadaver obedience in the students and to drive out all humanity. Therefore, the dramaturgy with boxing matches is acceptable as a turning point: “This is cinema, even cinema, but it effectively serves to establish the truth too much. The film is made good, safe and effective. It is played excellently. The danger of the Nazi costume film with swastika flags and dashing uniforms almost never arises. ”The epd film critic Jörg Taszman praised the director of the“ undemagogic anti-Nazi film ”for the courage to“ provoke an ambivalent goosebump feeling ”. The realistically filmed scenes were emotional, and the director unmasked the ideological seduction “not through fashionable intellectual coldness”. The script is well researched, the direction shows great craftsmanship, and the actors, especially the naturally playing Riemelt, contribute to the success.

In the Frankfurter Rundschau , Michael Kohler explained how The Downfall was Napola a film in which "National Socialism is primarily seen as classic film material and less as an obligation to aesthetic caution". In order to show the seduction to a young audience, Gansel sometimes staged parades and drills like Leni Riefenstahl , "as an accomplice as the devil's director, so as not to make things too easy for his audience". By empathizing with his young audience, Gansel made it clear that the elite school was “training for racially motivated murder”. However, he weakens his declared educational goal of telling a current story by using set pieces from other films, which makes parallels between then and now difficult. The young audience will sooner recognize the genre than learn something about the Nazi era, and so “in the end all that remains is well-made entertainment cinema. But that also means something. ” Claudia Schwartz from the Neue Zürcher Zeitung also referred to The Downfall , because Napola aims at entertainment, not at deepening a moral issue. "The history only serves Gansel as a pretext and backdrop for a classic, skilfully crafted boarding school film". Making a genre film is legitimate, and the subject of youthful self-discovery is unproblematic. “It's annoying how the film rattles off all the clichés that come to mind about the brown terror, from blasting Hitler songs to standing at attention with slamming Nazi boots. Instead of dealing with the content of the era of National Socialism, Riefenstahl's undersides show perfectly lit blond youths with bare chests. ”In doing so, Gansel misses his own claim to represent the time by omitting any political discussion and reducing to emotions.

The FAZ critic Andreas Kilb was of the opinion that Volker Schlöndorff did not have the courage in his work Der Unhold (1996) to "spell out" the fascinating thing about National Socialism "on the screen". Gansel is initially more courageous, but his film leaves a queasy feeling in the end - not because it has used too many, but too few genre elements: “In cinema, humanism is a question of evidence, not of a good conscience.” After all, they are Humiliation of the bed-wetter and his sacrificial death “pure cinema”. For fear of advertising the Nazi subject with too effective a presentation, Gansel ultimately lost himself in it.

Katja Nicodemus came to a different conclusion at the time . It is true that one shows a hero against “National Socialist Darwinism”, but the aesthetics are inexperienced. Because the makers would not have noticed that "a camera that is intoxicated with jagged appearances and pretty geometric uniform arrangements at some point begins to collaborate with its subject." In view of the previous generation of directors, such as von Schlöndorff, who had tried to find an appropriate approach, Gansel's handling of the subject seemed like a relapse. Isabella Reicher from Standard identified schematically arranged figures. The film shifts attention away from “structural conditions” towards the tragedies of individual characters. "Napola is thus inscribing itself in the trend of 'normalization' in dealing with and popularizing the National Socialist past", similar to Der Untergang . In the Süddeutsche Zeitung , Hans Günther Pflaum compared Napola with the "Persilfilms" of the 1950s about the time of National Socialism, in which protagonists got entangled "innocently in guilt". “Like in Greek tragedy. So you can tell stories, but not work through history. ”The film does not lead political discourse, ignores war and Nazi ideology on the side and a series of anecdotes on a story that does not lead to an end. Instead of telling stories, he tells stories and just wants to make the audience cry instead of thinking. Pflaum was also irritated by the transfiguration of Napola into a paradise of equal opportunities for advancement for all students.

Awards

literature

conversations

  • With Dennis Gansel in the Süddeutsche Zeitung , January 13, 2005, p. 40: The school of seduction
  • With Dennis Gansel in epd Film , January 2005, pp. 46–47: I wanted to tell it excitingly

Review mirror

positive

Rather positive

Mixed

negative

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Age rating for Napola - Elite for the Führer . Youth Media Commission .
  2. ^ The National Political Educational Institutions and their students (II, 11th, end with Napola Allenstein).
  3. ^ The national political educational institutions and their students (2.2.4 The uniform).
  4. ↑ Hans Müncheberg: The story of history. NAPOLA - How the film deviates from history - added advice from a historical advisor (Friday January 14, 2005).
  5. ↑ a b Katja Nicodemus: A small political group . In: Die Zeit , November 4, 2004.
  6. ↑ a b c Michael Kohler: Riefenstahl as litmus test . In: Frankfurter Rundschau , January 13, 2005, p. 28.
  7. ^ A b Claudia Schwartz : Puberty in the Third Reich . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , April 8, 2005, p. 47 .
  8. ↑ a b Andreas Kilb : Tender boys . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , January 15, 2005, p. 31 .
  9. ↑ a b c Hans Günther Pflaum: The acid test of history . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , January 13, 2005, p. 12 .
  10. ↑ a b c Isabella Reicher: School for heroic death . In: Der Standard , April 22, 2005.
  11. ↑ Hellmuth Karasek : Learning target drag . In: Die Welt , January 11, 2005, p. 25.
  12. ↑ Jörg Taszman: Napola In: epd Film No. 1/2005 , p. 46.