The main problem with NAPOLA is that it tries to hard to deliver its message: the Nazi regime was bad, the Nazis were evil and history repeating must be prevented at all costs.
But opposed to DER UNTERGANG their message is obscured because they are not portraying the Nazis as people but instead cardboard characters. Gauleiter Stein is hands down the most stereotyped character, I have seen in a Nazi movie. The scene where he sets up a boxing match between Friedrich and Albrecht in his cellar is totally unbelievable.
DER UNTERGANG succeeds in portraying the most evil person in recent history, Hitler, as a human being, which makes him even more chilling.
But in NAPOLA the Nazis are just stereotyped one dimensional persons. They seem to posses only one human characteristic: malice. This makes them easier to disown as "monsters". As a matter of fact most Nazis - even the ones that carried out the most brutal crimes against humanity - were kind family fathers. They seemed to have two personalities: a public and a private one. When you see a human being with human emotions carry out outrageous acts, these acts seem all the more frightening than if you see a monster carrying them out. NAPOLA misses the target because of the inept characterization.
The friendship between Friedrich and Albrecht is also very hard to comprehend since the development of their friendship goes from "total strangers" to "best friends" in a matter of seconds. The writer/director should have paid the development of that friendship more attention since it is a key element in the movie.
The strict father/creative son relationship which leads to the suicide of the son is a total ripoff of DEAD POETS SOCIETY. At least they could have tried to twist the story just a tiny bit to make it somewhat unpredictable.
The movie itself is spectacular when it comes to settings, costumes and cinemagraphy. Beautiful work.
Though I really wanted to like NAPOLA, in the end I walked out of the theater disappointed. Maybe I was expecting too much.
But opposed to DER UNTERGANG their message is obscured because they are not portraying the Nazis as people but instead cardboard characters. Gauleiter Stein is hands down the most stereotyped character, I have seen in a Nazi movie. The scene where he sets up a boxing match between Friedrich and Albrecht in his cellar is totally unbelievable.
DER UNTERGANG succeeds in portraying the most evil person in recent history, Hitler, as a human being, which makes him even more chilling.
But in NAPOLA the Nazis are just stereotyped one dimensional persons. They seem to posses only one human characteristic: malice. This makes them easier to disown as "monsters". As a matter of fact most Nazis - even the ones that carried out the most brutal crimes against humanity - were kind family fathers. They seemed to have two personalities: a public and a private one. When you see a human being with human emotions carry out outrageous acts, these acts seem all the more frightening than if you see a monster carrying them out. NAPOLA misses the target because of the inept characterization.
The friendship between Friedrich and Albrecht is also very hard to comprehend since the development of their friendship goes from "total strangers" to "best friends" in a matter of seconds. The writer/director should have paid the development of that friendship more attention since it is a key element in the movie.
The strict father/creative son relationship which leads to the suicide of the son is a total ripoff of DEAD POETS SOCIETY. At least they could have tried to twist the story just a tiny bit to make it somewhat unpredictable.
The movie itself is spectacular when it comes to settings, costumes and cinemagraphy. Beautiful work.
Though I really wanted to like NAPOLA, in the end I walked out of the theater disappointed. Maybe I was expecting too much.