Those in the Intermediate German class will have watched this recently during an evening film screening. "Napola," or "Before the Fall" as its English title goes by, is a film about an elite school for boys in Nazi Germany and the boy Friedrich Weimer's struggle to find acceptance and success in its harsh environment. I saw it for the first time several years ago and it remains a favourite of mine and something you all should see. Dennis Gansel directs, though his best known film is "The Wave" based on a adolescent novel. Perhaps the most touching part of the film is the close, semi-homoerotic relationship that Friedrich (Max Riemelt) forms with Albrecht (Tom Schilling), another boy at the elite school. Their friendship exists despite immense differences in their personalities and forces within the school that threaten to tear them apart. Ultimately, this friendship leads Friedrich to discover that Napola is not all he had thought it to be and that he in fact rejects many of the school's teachings. Here's the trailer for those that are interested, as well as one of the more touching scenes with Friedrich and Albrecht.
Hey, the lower level German kids did too! ha I was wondering if anyone would make this post, I don't know why I didn't. I really quite liked it, though when I looked it up before the screening I was like "wtf?"
ReplyDeleteThat poster is OK, but the one on IMDB ups the homo-eroticism I think. But honestly, I didn't really view it like that at all. Obviously it isn't a stretch to queer it, but, I also hate when close male bonds are automatically viewed as homo-erotic.
Hah, just looked at IMDB and you're right. I think yours is a fair judgment, and I don't know if either of them might have been bisexual. I don't think it really matters, nor is it central to the movie. I've seen this film several times now. The first couple of viewings I just saw it as a close male bond. But this last time, particularly with the bathroom scene, the homoeroticism didn't seem like such a far stretch.
ReplyDeleteHa! I remember bringing that up in my German class, about the homoeroticism, but Professor Karlsson shut me down. Validation!
ReplyDeleteObviously, Ariana, I see your point. And I don't really have a reason for advocating that it has those particular undertones, other than the fact that there were no other scenes of repressed sexuality, which I found weird for any film, especially a German one. Someone pointed out though, that perhaps the student in charge of room checks, and who tried to make the bed-wetter pay him off, was actually sexually attracted to him. This would explain his harsh treatment of the poor kid, because of how unacceptable his feelings were.
But personally, I think that's a bit of a stretch because there are no other signs pointing to this theory.
I actually loved this movie, but I definitely read the ties between Friedrich and Albrecht as mildly homoerotic. Yes, they were good friends, but the bathroom scene kind of just laid out the definition of their relationship for me. I wouldn't really define either of them as bisexual or gay or anything-- it was just a relationship that blossomed in the midst of something greater.
ReplyDeleteI have a weird love of suicidal characters, so I think that's part of why this film appealed to me so much. I really liked the character development and the heavy internal conflict. I think it's also a great depiction of how young people could get caught up so quickly in the Nazi youth movement.
I feel we are missing a major scene in the homoerotic undertone of this movie—the scene when Albrecht confronts Friedrich in the bathroom, and they "fight" and wind up on top of one another sobbing and hugging. That, the devotion Friedrich dedicates to reading Albrecht's essays, all sums up to a very close, if not homoerotic relationship between the two.
ReplyDeleteand Rachel, I like your comment on how the film depicts people getting caught up in the Nazi Youth Movement. This whole theme seems not uncommon today, too, and any marxist film critics would have a field day. There are families where the parents were/are very military, and their children don't have much choice other than joining the military, as one sees through Albrecht, and then there are individuals who have not got any money or chance, and are working and living in poverty, as is depicted through Friedrich, who sees his chance to become something, to escape the conditions his family endures, through the movement,