Review: The Captain (2017)

Der Hauptmann or the Captain, Released in March 15, 2018, is a German-Language historical drama film, directed and written by Robert Schwentke. The casts of the film are Max Hubacher, Frederick Lau, Milan Peschel, Alexander Fehling, Bernd Hölscher and many more. The film won German film award for Best sound design (2018), European film Award for Best sound designer (2018), CinEuphoria Awards for Best special effects (2019).

Summary of the plot

The film is based on the true story of Willi Herold, a war criminal. In the last days of World War II, the young German solider fighting to save his life, steal a Nazi captain’s uniform. With the uniform comes the power and with the power, the man becomes the monstrous being he was trying to escape.

Review

The film reminds me of the Stanford prison experiment, the psychological effects of perceived power, how when there is no set bar of consequences, people are capable to unleash the monsters.

The film is based on the true story of a German solider, Willi Herold. Willi Herold was assumed to steal the identity and uniform of a Nazi Captain and later participated in war crimes. At the beginning of the movie, it can be seen the attempt to steal and pretending to be a captain made by the young solider was purely on survival instinct. He seems scared, on the verge of making a fight of flight decision. But as time progress, successfully deceiving other people make him bolder, ruthless and he proceed to do what he saw other captains throughout the war to do, war crimes. It’s debatable if either the actions he took was the influence of his superiors or purely his own but the consequences of those actions can only farther verify the concept of resistance, the fear of facing the consequences. When there are no consequences to be faced of one’s bad actions, keeping the humanity of humans can become a challenge.

Favorite quote

“I flew inside you like the devil into the virgin. And that’s where I’ll stay. In your heart.”

The simplicity yet the profound depth held by this quote can be easily used to describe the whole story in one sentence.

Conclusion

I stumbled upon this film quite accidentally but the concept seemed interesting and draw me into it. The casts acted their part professionally but some aspect of the film kind of felt boring. But who knows, maybe the blame should be put on my tiredness.

Reference

Cover Poster - Source

(Rest of the images are taken from the film)