From my original review: While imperfect—not in the least because of an annoying, inapt and cheesy-sounding musical score by Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek that makes the film sound like a bad TV drama—Marc Rothemund’s Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005) is still a truly remarkable film. It’s remarkable because the centerpiece scenes of Sophie’s (Julia Jentsch, Downfall) interrogation and trial by the Nazis are taken directly from recently released transcripts of the events themselves. (It’s especially chilling to hear Sophie’s last words to the court, since they’re so close to Chaplin’s words in Monsieur Verdoux (1947), which also indicts a corrupt system, albeit in very different ways.) That sort of realism doesn’t necessarily translate into convincing drama, but it does here—thanks to director Marc Rothemund and the incisive performances of Jentsch and Alexander Held (who plays her chief interrogator). Jentsch is particularly fine. Her ability to make us believe Sophie’s somewhat naive youthful idealism is what makes the effortless eloquence of her words believable.
Full review here
Classic World Cinema by Courtyard Gallery will present Sophie Scholl: The Final Days Friday, Nov. 15, at 8 p.m. at Phil Mechanic Studios, 109 Roberts St., River Arts District (upstairs in the Railroad Library). Info: 273-3332, www.ashevillecourtyard.com
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