Most people who know about this movie are aware that "Kolberg" was financed by Joseph Goebbels near the end of World War II, when Nazi Germany was in its final death throes. (Supposedly, Goebbels wrote many of the speeches himself.) Fittingly (though perhaps also surprisingly) enough, it was also one of the biggest budgeted German films at that time, with thousands of extras (and thousands of horses) employed - many of them taken off the front lines. The result is a big budget propaganda that actually, on its own, holds up pretty well. You don't have the blatant pro-Nazi message of "Triumph of the Will", and you don't have the blatant antisemitism of "Jud Suess", so it won't make even the most open-minded film critic squeamish. At the same time, and much like Soviet films that served similar purposes, if you know the worldview of the filmmakers and who budgeted them, then you can, at times, read between the lines.
The film opens in Prussia, in the period following Napoleon's ill fated Russian campaign. The Prussian (read: German) people are calling for the nation to go to war against Napoleon. Gneisenau, the famous Prussian general, goes to King Frederick William III to convince him to go to war. In the process of so doing, he begins to recount the story of the siege of Kolberg, which he himself participated in. The tale recounts the days shortly after the Battle of Jena, with the Holy Roman Empire dissolving into the pro-Napoleon Confederation of the Rhine, and with French troops storming across German lands. In the midst of all this, there is a hold out of hope in Kolberg, where the city mayor, Nettelbeck refuses to give in. After sparring with Loucadou, the military commander of Kolberg, Nettelbeck seeks help from the monarchy, and receives relief with the arrival of Gneisenau. Defenses are prepared, and the French launch their attack. The defenders manage to hold on until the bitter end, after which the French withdraw. Going back to the contemporary time, King Frederick is overcome, and decides to declare war on Napoleon.
As I said before, you can read between the lines about the message they were trying to convey to a German audience that was constantly hearing about shrinking front lines and constantly having Allied bombs fall on their heads. The setting here is almost the exact same one they would be in: an enemy force is overrunning Germany, and struggling German defenders are forced to make a last ditch stand as their society crumbles around them. The scene where the French begin to bombard the town mercilessly, resulting in destruction of homes en masse, was obviously a reference to the Allied bombing in the past, and an effort to ask the people to keep firm despite it. Nettelbeck is clearly presented as a man of the people, much like Hitler was portrayed by the party, and the people rally around him as their last hope. Also noteworthy is the emphasis on the unity of the people in working together to better the nation - it's easy to forget that the National Socialists were, at their core, socialists of a certain caliber, and hence they often spoke of themselves as friends of "the little guy". Perhaps the saddest part of the film's propaganda undertones is the ending. The film ends with the French merely giving up, realizing the city cannot be taken; in reality, the French only withdrew because Prussia signed a treaty that effectively made it a neutral nation. One wonders if the Nazi financiers and advisers for the film hoped that the war would end this way as well: with the Allies giving up after realizing how hard the Germans were willing to fight. Given how World War II ended, this makes the film exactly what it is: a Nazi fantasy.
The film's cast is also an interesting cavalcade of who's-who in early-to-mid 20th century German cinema. Kristina Söderbaum, who also played the ill-fated heroine in Goebbels' more well known pet project "Jud Suess", stars as the main female lead here. Paul Wegener, of "Der Golem" fame, plays Nettelbeck's foil Loucadou. Otto Wernicke, who played the police inspector in Fritz Lang's masterpiece "M" (as well as starred in two other Nazi propaganda pieces, "Uncle Kruger" and "Titanic"), also plays a part. Surprisingly, an actor with very little film experience, Horst Caspar (check out his IMDB page - only four films are listed), probably shines the most as Gneisenau.
As I said before, the film stands well on its own, and is worth at least one viewing, even if out of mere curiosity for its historical significance. It's rare that people outside of Germany get to see films about Germans in the Napoleonic Wars, so perhaps from that perspective alone, it might be worth a viewing.
The film opens in Prussia, in the period following Napoleon's ill fated Russian campaign. The Prussian (read: German) people are calling for the nation to go to war against Napoleon. Gneisenau, the famous Prussian general, goes to King Frederick William III to convince him to go to war. In the process of so doing, he begins to recount the story of the siege of Kolberg, which he himself participated in. The tale recounts the days shortly after the Battle of Jena, with the Holy Roman Empire dissolving into the pro-Napoleon Confederation of the Rhine, and with French troops storming across German lands. In the midst of all this, there is a hold out of hope in Kolberg, where the city mayor, Nettelbeck refuses to give in. After sparring with Loucadou, the military commander of Kolberg, Nettelbeck seeks help from the monarchy, and receives relief with the arrival of Gneisenau. Defenses are prepared, and the French launch their attack. The defenders manage to hold on until the bitter end, after which the French withdraw. Going back to the contemporary time, King Frederick is overcome, and decides to declare war on Napoleon.
As I said before, you can read between the lines about the message they were trying to convey to a German audience that was constantly hearing about shrinking front lines and constantly having Allied bombs fall on their heads. The setting here is almost the exact same one they would be in: an enemy force is overrunning Germany, and struggling German defenders are forced to make a last ditch stand as their society crumbles around them. The scene where the French begin to bombard the town mercilessly, resulting in destruction of homes en masse, was obviously a reference to the Allied bombing in the past, and an effort to ask the people to keep firm despite it. Nettelbeck is clearly presented as a man of the people, much like Hitler was portrayed by the party, and the people rally around him as their last hope. Also noteworthy is the emphasis on the unity of the people in working together to better the nation - it's easy to forget that the National Socialists were, at their core, socialists of a certain caliber, and hence they often spoke of themselves as friends of "the little guy". Perhaps the saddest part of the film's propaganda undertones is the ending. The film ends with the French merely giving up, realizing the city cannot be taken; in reality, the French only withdrew because Prussia signed a treaty that effectively made it a neutral nation. One wonders if the Nazi financiers and advisers for the film hoped that the war would end this way as well: with the Allies giving up after realizing how hard the Germans were willing to fight. Given how World War II ended, this makes the film exactly what it is: a Nazi fantasy.
The film's cast is also an interesting cavalcade of who's-who in early-to-mid 20th century German cinema. Kristina Söderbaum, who also played the ill-fated heroine in Goebbels' more well known pet project "Jud Suess", stars as the main female lead here. Paul Wegener, of "Der Golem" fame, plays Nettelbeck's foil Loucadou. Otto Wernicke, who played the police inspector in Fritz Lang's masterpiece "M" (as well as starred in two other Nazi propaganda pieces, "Uncle Kruger" and "Titanic"), also plays a part. Surprisingly, an actor with very little film experience, Horst Caspar (check out his IMDB page - only four films are listed), probably shines the most as Gneisenau.
As I said before, the film stands well on its own, and is worth at least one viewing, even if out of mere curiosity for its historical significance. It's rare that people outside of Germany get to see films about Germans in the Napoleonic Wars, so perhaps from that perspective alone, it might be worth a viewing.