a few more details about…
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days
The true story of Germany’s most famous anti-Nazi heroine is brought to thrilling life in the multi-award winning drama SOPHIE SCHOLL-THE FINAL DAYS. Germany’s official Foreign Language Film selection for the 2005 Academy Awards, SOPHIE SCHOLL stars Julia Jentsch in a luminous performance as the young coed-turned-fearless activist. Armed with long-buried historical records of her incarceration, director Marc Rothemund expertly re-creates the last six days of Sophie Scholl’s life: a heart-stopping journey from arrest to interrogation, trial and sentence.
In 1943, as Hitler continues to wage war across Europe, a group of college students mount an underground resistance movement in Munich. Dedicated expressly to the downfall of the monolithic Third Reich war machine, they call themselves the White Rose. One of its few female members, Sophie Scholl is captured during a dangerous mission to distribute pamphlets on campus with her brother Hans. Unwavering in her convictions and loyalty to the White Rose, her cross-examination by the Gestapo quickly escalates into a searing test of wills as Scholl delivers a passionate call to freedom and personal responsibility that is both haunting and timeless.
Opens February 17 in New York and February 24 in Los Angeles.
Nationwide release to follow, including:
Film Forum, New York, NY – Opens February 17
Music Hall 3, Los Angeles, CA – Opens February 24
Cinema Arts Centre, Huntington, NY – Opens February 24
Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA – March 10 – 16
Sunrise Cinemas 11, Sunrise, FL – Opens March 17
Cape Cinema, Dennis, MA – Opens March 17
Varsity Theatre, Seattle, WA – March 17 – 23
E Street Cinema, Washington DC – Opens March 24
Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, HI – April 22-26
Flicks Theatre, Boise, ID – April 28 – May 4
Cinema 320, Worcester, MA – May 9 – 14
AWARD-WINNING!
- Academy Award Nominee, Best Foreign Language Film
- Winner, Best Actress, European Film Awards
- Winner, Silver Bear, Berlin International Film Festival, Best Director and Best Actress
- Winner, Lola Award (German Oscar), Best Film (Audience Award) and Best Actress
“CHILLING AUTHENTICITY! GRIPPINGLY PORTRAYED! Julie Jentsch is terrific! An ace performance!” -Derek Elley, VARIETY
“RIVETING! A heartbreaking yet stirring reminder of the perils, and glory, of courage. A magnetic lead performance!” – John Powers, VOGUE
“HARROWING! HEROIC! Exhilarating! Inspiring! Riveting!” – Kevin Crust, LOS ANGELES TIMES
“SHOCKING AND COMPELLING! It’s early, but it could be one of the best films of 2006!”
– Jeffrey Lyons, NBC’s REEL TALK
“The ultimate homage to the memory of these brave young people… The performances of Scholl and Mohr are full of life and very believable… The story has been respected in every way.” – L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO (Vatican newspaper)
Hmmm, are you borrowing this idea from my comment at A&F regarding how both films had some people saying “You need to see this!” and other people saying “Nobody should see this!”? 🙂
No. It’s been on my mind since I first heard about the project… yet another movie taking us into an up-close-and-personal encounter with a horror that I experienced horrifically enough from a distance, thanks very much.
But yeah, the conflicting reactions that overstep the bounds of personal response to become prescriptive response… they certainly do have that in common!
The best thing about both films is that they are setting up dialogues about their respective subject matters. If audiences go or not, they are at least considering how they feel or why they would go to see a potentially traumatic film.
I’m grateful similar polarisations have not taken place in this country over such films as Irreversible. Imagine if that had gotten the same attention as The Passion of the Christ.
But is Flight 93 2 continuous hours of bloody violence leading up to death? I think the films are more different then they are the same.
For Christians, Christ’s sacrifice, the laying down of life for others, was not about the violence & neither was Gibson’s film. Although it’s the violence that got the press because His sacrifice isn’t really understood by the MSM at all. All that was apparent to them was the brutality. Recall that Kill Bill, a film directly about violence, was out at roughly the same time & the MSM rarely made the comparison.
With United 93, which is also about sacrifice for others, it might be easier for people to put themselves in the position of the people on the screen. Maybe because they watched it happen & have, as Jeffrey pointed out, a “personal response” to the events because of that. None are alive on earth today who witnessed Christ’s execution. The Why of both sacrifices is basically the same: love. Love for country, love for family, love for what the USA stands for are comprehensible things to the average person. But comprehending the sacrifice Jesus made – that because He so loved the world, God gave His only begotten Son to suffer & die for our sins, for my own sins – is at once far more personal & far more difficult for most folks. It forces us to point our fingers at ourselves & examine, to confront who we are & why we do what we do. Especially if we understand the nature of sin & its effect on us in the eyes of God. Those who don’t will be confused & see only violence, a snuff film (which TPOTC most definitely is not).
But United 93 is, in a way, safer, even though it’s just as emotionally charged. We can name & understand & explain the love we have for our country & family. We’ve all personalized it, it visceral. But for those who do not have a personalized faith, TPOTC would be difficult to comprehend, if not impossible.
I have to agree with Gene; the personal nature of faith compelled me to see TPOTC. I’ve often asked the question of how that film appears to folks who do not have a revelational or even theological sense of the crucifixion.
In this context, the potential for United 93 to appeal to a wider audience (in the US at least)is unmistakable, though it is for reasons incomparable to the sacrifice of Christ.
For Christians, Christ’s sacrifice, the laying down of life for others . . .
Side note: For some Christians, Christ’s sacrifice incorporates the entire Incarnation, from Annunciation to Ascension. Almighty God becoming a tiny, crying, pooping, burping baby and then a mortal adolescent and adult human being was definitely a big deal in and of itself. The Crucifixion is, in one sense, just a part of all that — a climax, to be sure, but not the entirety of the sacrifice.
With United 93, which is also about sacrifice for others . . .
Is it? The terrorists are certainly sacrificing themselves for others, in some sense. But the passengers who rush the cockpit seem to be primarily trying to save themselves. (They don’t even rush the cockpit until they have determined that they have the ability to land the plane safely on their own.) Obviously, there is great patriotic capital in saying that they did what they did for “love of country” — and that was probably a motivation, too. But as I recall, the film does not make it their primary motivation.
Ironically, Campbell Andrews of //THE CONVERSATION// writes:
…Should I see The Passion for my health? I remain unconvinced… As I am that the likes of United 93 is mandatory viewing for the discerning moviegoer…
Check out http://the-conversation.blogspot.com for the rest of this discussion.
“Obviously, there is great patriotic capital in saying that they did what they did for ‘love of country’ — and that was probably a motivation, too. But as I recall, the film does not make it their primary motivation.”
Guess I should have been clearer, Peter. I meant that from my POV, not those on the United 93 flight or of Greengrass or the characters in his film. That’s why I quoted Jeffrey re: our “personal response.” I think we as a nation tend to see the passengers on United 93 as heroes who gave their lives to save others. Was that their motivation? Perhaps not. I’m not at all sure all of them actually comprehended the enormity of the events they were part of on that day. Perhaps most heroes do not. Many (most?) US citizens can put themselves in the places of those on that flight & personalize their motivations but it can only be in light of full knowledge of all that happened on 9/11/2001 & since. How many passengers on United 93 had ever heard the name Osama bin Laden? How many of us now can say we have not? I don’t think anyone who sees United 93 now can divorce the knowledge of the last 4.5 years from what they’ll experience as they watch the film. The impact of a film like Schindler’s List is not the same for me as that of United 93; just as intense, perhaps, but not as personal. That would be different, however, were I a surviver of the Holocaust.
And there’s another difference between them & Christ – or any self-sacrificing act that we mortals can make & that of Chirst. We, in our finite way, can image the selflessness of Jesus & the love He has for us that necessitated His sacrifice on the cross, but we can never equate it.
In the original post, Jeffrey asked for a discussion on on why the MSM might dismiss TPOTC & praise United 93. That’s what I was addressing & so Jesus’ Passion & death was the specific aspect of Christ’s sacrifice I was referring to. As a Catholic, I’d agree with the Orthodox priest you linked to, Peter. Christ humbled Himself to become man by being born of a woman & that thought is extremely humbling to me. He could have manifested Himself as a fully grown man, or any number of other ways – but he came as a helpless baby! It’s a great & powerful mystery. That’s why the liturgical season of Advent, like Lent, is also penitential. I can’t imagine not reflecting on these things in the weeks prior to Christmas & Easter.