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SOPHIE SCHOLLSOPHIE SCHOLLT H E F I N A L D A Y S

“COMPELLING! WIRE-TIGHT SUSPENSE!May sound like a history lesson, but don’t be fooled!”

—Anthony Lane, THE NEW YORKER

“RIVETING! A HEARTBREAKING YET STIRRINGREMINDER OF THE PERILS, AND GLORY, OF COURAGE!”

—John Powers, VOGUE

“A KNOCKOUT OF A PERFORMANCE!We feel we’re seeing Scholl’s spirit come to life again!”

—Kenneth Turan, LOS ANGELES TIMES

ZEITGEIST FILMS AND BAVARIA FILM INTERNATIONAL PRESENTS A GOLDKIND FILM AND BROTH FILM PRODUCTION “SOPHIE SCHOLL:THE FINAL DAYS” IN COOPERATION WITH BR, SWR AND ARTEJULIA JENTSCH ALEXANDER HELD FABIAN HINRICHS JOHANNA GASTDORF ANDRÉ HENNICKE FLORIAN STETTER PETRA KELLING JÖRG HUBE CASTING NESSIE NESSLAUER MAKE-UP MARTINE FLENER GREGOR ECKSTEIN COSTUMES NATASCHA CURTIUS-NOSS PRODUCTION DESIGN JANA KAREN SOUND ROLAND WINKE SOUND DESIGN DANIEL DIETENBERGER ALEX SAAL MAGDA HABERNICKEL SOUND MIX TSCHANGIS CHAHROKH EDITOR HANS FUNCK MUSIC JOHNNY KLIMEK REINHOLD HEIL DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY MARTIN LANGER

PRODUCTION MANAGER PATRICK BRANDT EXECUTIVE PRODUCER JO N. SCHÄFER CO-PRODUCER BETTINA REITZ PRODUCER CHRISTOPH MÜLLER SVEN BURGEMEISTER FRED BREINERSDORFER MARC ROTHEMUND SCRIPT FRED BREINERSDORFER DIRECTOR MARC ROTHEMUND

ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINEEBEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

WINNERBEST ACTRESS

EUROPEANFILM AWARDS

WINNERBEST ACTRESS

AND AUDIENCE AWARDGERMAN FILMAWARDS (LOLAS)

ophie Scholl: The Final Days”conveys what it must have beenlike to be a young, smart,idealistic dissenter in NaziGermany, where no dissent was

tolerated. This gripping true story, directedin a cool, semi-documentary style by theGerman filmmaker Marc Rothemund from ascreenplay by Fred Breinersdorfer,challenges you to gauge your own courageand strength of character should you findyourself in similar circumstances. Wouldyou risk your life the way Sophie Scholl(Julia Jentsch) and a tiny group of fellowstudents at Munich University did to spreadantigovernment leaflets? How would youbehave during the kind of relentlessinterrogations that Sophie endures? Ifsentenced to death for your activities, wouldyou still consider your resistance to havebeen worth it? In a climate of nationaldebate in the United States about theoverriding of certain civil liberties to fightterrorism, the movie looks back on a worstpossible scenario in which such libertieswere taken away. It raises an unspokenquestion: could it happen here?

Scholl, whose story has been told in atleast two earlier German films (MichaelVerhoeven's “White Rose” and PercyAdlon’s “Five Last Days”), is regardedtoday in Germany as a national heroine.Much of the movie, an Oscar nominee thisyear for best foreign-language film, is basedon documents and court transcripts hidden inEast German archives until 1990.

The movie follows the last six days ofSophie’s life, after she and her brother Hans(Fabian Hinrichs) are arrested at MunichUniversity in February 1943 for printing anddistributing anti-Nazi leaflets. Their arresttakes place in a political climate of panic anddenial after Germany’s defeat at Stalingrad.News of the rout has begun to circulate, butthe powers-that-be dig in their heels.

The Scholl siblings belong to the WhiteRose, a tiny resistance movement at MunichUniversity. The pamphlet they distribute inthe university’s empty halls, while classesare in session, declares that the war cannotbe won and urges Germany to sue for peace.They naïvely hope to ignite a spontaneousstudent rebellion.

But the Nazi attitude toward the reversalof Germany’s fortunes on the battlefield isone of enraged denial. The shrill accusations

leveled against Sophie and two of the otheraccused in the interrogation room and incourt by the fulminating judge, Dr. RolandFreisler (André Hennicke), have a tone ofdesperate, hysterical fury.

“Sophie Scholl: The Final Days” pointedlysteers away from unnecessary melodramaand sentimentality to deliver a crispchronology of events told entirely fromSophie’s perspective, with minimal backstory. As the brother and sister race todistribute the leaflets, the movie refuses tounderline the built-in suspense.Apprehended by an alert janitor just as theyare blending into a milling crowd ofstudents, they are hustled to Gestapoheadquarters and interrogated separately.

As Sophie undergoes the first gruelinghours of minute cross-examination byRobert Mohr (Alexander Held), an icy,contemptuous criminologist with a mindColumbo might envy, she maintains aremarkable composure, insisting that she isapolitical and relating an elaborate coverstory involving the transportation of laundryin the suitcase that carried the leaflets.

Sophie wins the first round of this cat-and-mouse game and is about to be releasedwhen investigators searching her apartmentturn up more incriminating evidence. Evenafter her story crumbles, Mohr, who has ason roughly Sophie’s age, is not entirelyunmoved by her arguments, and near the endof her confinement, he offers her anunacceptable deal to save her own life. Ateach turning point, Sophie, who is deeplyreligious, prays to God for help.

On learning that Hans has confessed, she

finally admits her complicity but continuestrying to protect other members of the group,especially Christoph Probst (Florian Stetter),who is married with children. But eventuallyhe is brought into custody.

We meet Sophie’s sympathetic cellmate,Else Gebel (Johanna Gastdorf), an avowedCommunist, and Sophie’s supportiveparents, who cheer her on in a subdued,wrenching farewell. Ms. Jentsch’s portrayalof Sophie is the more impressive for itscomplete lack of histrionics. Yes, Sophie is aheroine, but not one given to Joan of Arc-style theatrics. An optimistic, life-lovingstudent with a boyfriend and a rich futureahead of her, she is the kind of decent,principled person we would all like to be.

Sophie SchollThe Final DaysDirected by Marc Rothemund; written (in German,with English subtitles) by Fred Breinersdorfer;director of photography, Martin Langer; edited byHans Funck; music by Johnny Klimek and ReinholdHeil; produced by Christoph Mueller, SvenBurgemeister, Mr. Breinersdorfer and Mr.Rothemund; released by Zeitgeist Films. At theFilm Forum, 209 West Houston Street, west ofAvenue of the Americas, South Village. Runningtime: 117 minutes. This film is not rated.

WITH: Julia Jentsch (Sophie Scholl), AlexanderHeld (Robert Mohr), Fabian Hinrichs (Hans Scholl),Johanna Gastdorf (Else Gebel), André Hennicke(Dr. Roland Freisler) and Florian Stetter (ChristophProbst).

Julia Jentsch plays a university student arrested for disseminating anti-Nazi leaflets in “Sophie Scholl.”

The Quiet Resolve Of a German Anti-Nazi MartyrFRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2006

By STEPHEN HOLDEN

FILM REVIEW

A ZEITGEIST FILMS RELEASE www.sophieschollmovie.com

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