Sophie Scholl - The Last Days

Sophie Scholl (Julia Jentsch) and her brother Hans (Fabian Hinrichs) are led away from the campus of their Munich university after being caught distributing anti-Nazi leaflets telling the truth about the seige of Stalingrad. Sophie's interrogation - for the first time reconstructed from the Stasi files - by Robert Mohr (Gerald Alexander Held) and her poignant defiance form the basis of the film that follows.

CHRIS: This film, which we saw as part of the German Film Festival, has happily got a commercial release in Australia. And it is very deserving of such exposure: the emotionally devastating film was one of the best films of the year. I'm always perversely interested in death penalty films, and although this one gives away the conclusion in its title, it's an admirably muted and restrained film. It's a pity that we saw it too long ago to provide a full review, but several moments have stuck with me: Sophie (the extraordinarily good Julia Jentsch) throwing their pamphlets down the atrium of the University; her taking on the Nazi prosecutor towards the end of the film; the final moments of the film; and the wonderfully emotional photo montage that accompanies the closing credits. It was such a pity in my mind that a few moments were ruined by an intrusive soundtrack (though I know Scott disagrees with me on all but one occasion), and there was one moment of spectacularly bad subtitle placing. On the whole though, this is an excellent film that comes highly recommended.

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