Napola

Colour, 35 mm
Germany, 2004, 110 min
Section: Official Selection

Synopsis

Berlin, 1942. Friedrich Weimer is 17 and has just finished school. He comes from a poor background, but still dreams of making something of his life. The one thing he has a passion for is amateur boxing. He gets his chance when he meets the appreciative Vogler who shares his enthusiasm for boxing and teaches at the elite Nazi school Nationalpolitische Erziehungsanstalt (Napola). When Friedrich is accepted into the school, Vogler becomes his mentor. Friedrich finds a new friend in the son of the highly placed Nazi chief Albrecht Stein – a sensitive boy who voices his doubts about the ideology which the other pupils have had banged into them without a passing thought. In daily confrontation with the tough inexorable drill dictated by the school, Albrecht increasingly finds himself in conflict with those around him. Friedrich realises that his friend has chosen his fate, even at the price of self-destruction. He decides to use the remains of what freedom he has left to try to live an honourable life.

About the director

Dennis Gansel (b. 1973, Hannover) studied at the Hochshule für Fernsehen und Film in Munich. He began to make a name for himself with a number of shorts (The Wrong Trip - 1996, Living Dead – 1998, Im Aufrang des Herrn - 1998). He debuted in television with the political thriller Das Phantom (2000) with Jürgen Vogel in the lead role, which was extremely well received in the press and brought him a series of awards, including the Adolf-Grimme-Preis. His next film, the teenage comedy Mädchen Mädchen! starring Diana Amft, became a hit in Germany. The drama Napola was based on a screenplay which – like all the scripts for his previous films – he wrote with Maggie Peren and which won the German Film Award in 2003. The film was also shot in Prague and Bouzov.