The White Rose

The White Rose

Read the book first then watch the movie I found the video interesting and decided to read the book. I did get what I wanted from the book and that was the background that did not have time to be shown in the movie. Sophie Magdalena Scholl (Lena Stolze), tells the story of her brothers' participation in being a dissident and distributing anti-government leaflets in WWII Germany and their eventual outcome. They called themselves The White Rose. The rating stars are not because of the subject content. They are for delivery. I did get what I wanted from the book and that was the background that did not have time to be shown in the movie. Aside from the actual leaflets, Inge Scholl does a good job of building up the drama as newer and weirder restrictions are being applied to the German public. This is the (close as you are going to get to the truth) story of an underground movement from within Germany by people that never thought they would be doing this. Aside from the actual leaflets, Inge Scholl does a good job of building up the drama as newer and weirder restrictions are being applied to the German public. The movie has more impact. You will want to watch it again for the things you missed while thinking of what you heard and saw. If you find this story interesting then a good follow-up film is Das schreckliche Mädchen (1990) .

The movie is well crafted, well acted and beautifully filmed. The story is engrossing and disturbing. This is a story about the greatest German heroes of WWII, including Von Stauffenberg (who was a senior military officer, performing his duty to protect Germany). I don't know why this movie has not received more attention or been shown outside of Germany. The story is about a group of young students, led by a young brother and sisters, Hans and Sophie Scholl, and their professor, Kurt Huber, who opposed the terrible actions of the Nazis and the Hitler regime. The ending is known and inevitable, but tension throughout the film is so intense, that the viewer will want to stop watching, but can't. Maybe the film would get more attention if the director, Michael Verhoeven, would remake it in English, but it wouldn't be netter. On the contrary, the German language makes it an even better experience and contributes considerably to the tension.

What I like most about this film is its sobriety, dispassion and sophistication in tackling the topic. There's no idealisation of the resistance group. It is based on precisely researched historical facts which successfully moves over clichés and false glorifications. Director Michael Verhoeven makes clear, that Sophie and Hans Scholl were neither longing for death nor wanted to set a beacon by giving themselves in custody. As incredibly brave and encouraged they were, they wanted to live most of all. The film also prompts questions of resistance fighters in a terror regime: Is there a right to resist against the majority of people? Is violence justified? Is it allowed to carry on sabotage which threatens the population? Is it allowed to wish a defeat for the own country? Is it worth anything to risk one's own life?

A war is being waged by a mad man, who fans the flames of conflict where he can, in Germany and abroad, he slashes with his sword, but the tide begins to turn against his plan. The University of Munich takes the stage, where a group of students publish their outrage, covertly they dispense, argue against armed offense, it's a war of words and wisdom on a page. But the powers that have stolen all free speech, hail down upon the message that you preach, incarceration and then court, corrupted state gets what it sought, but there is solace in the strength of your outreach. The powerful and inspirational story of students banding together to stop a tyrant during WWII, great performances all round but especially from Lena Stolze playing the brave Sophie Scholl.

"Die Weisse Rose"(The White Rose)is a movie about resistance against Hitler and The Nazi-pary("NSDAP")INSIDE Nazi-Germany. It is hard for many people(especially Americans)to believe that not all Germans were Nazis and followed Hitler. The movie is about a resistance group called "The White Rose" at the university in Munich("München" in German), and it also describes how many people didn`t now about what happened at the front, with Russian prisoners-of-war and the jews. Hans and Sophie were brave people who stood up against the Nazi-tyrrany, and the actors in those roles did a very good job. 9/10

Die Weiße Rose is a sad, touching film. I imagine that it was popular in Europe, but it seems that nearly nobody here has seen it--a shame, really, because it is so good. Yes, there was a resistance in Germany. The movie focuses on the story of two young people involved in said resistance, an attempted feat that makes them seem like heroes to almost everybody on the planet. But it isn't just the story that's good. That wouldn't be enough, really, since there are lots of movies which take exciting ideas and screw them up horribly. Die Weiße Rose is very well filmed, very subtle and exciting, and very sad.

Harrowing and unforgettable, this film follows a group of mostly student resistors in Nazi Germany as they discover what their country's regime is doing to war prisoners and to Jews, and try to work out nonviolent ways to get the truth to their compatriots and resist a regime that massacres. The film seems as accurate as re-creations of history get. I had the honor of meeting three survivors of the White Rose once, in Berkeley, California, in 1992 or so when they accompanied a showing of panels and photos about the group. It is extraordinary that there was this resistance--one with much that those opposed to today's wars could learn from and emulate--yet nearly no one knew of this for decades. I remember in 1969 someone speaking of a thesis about "resistors in Nazi Germany," and when I laughed at such a seeming oxymoron, he told me, "Yes we laugh because we haven't heard of them--because nearly all of them died." See the film and see one form that courage can take.

"The White Rose" identifies the international effects of post-WWI. Germany sought purity within their culture to counter suffrage imposed by conquering nations. 'The Hun' was hog tied to keep the world safe while WWII developed. In this atmosphere, Nazism flourished with the rise of a gifted communicator, Der Fuehrer--The Leader. In the form of ethnocentrism white roses blossomed. "The White Rose" was a world tragedy not just a nationalistic movement. However, within the hell of Nazi Germany a few youngsters and their academia professors attempted to communicate the reality of hell on earth, and they failed. I have this movie in Beta video format and await a DVD replacement. I was introduced to this film while I was stationed in West Germany in 1982 when it won numerous European awards. It's a classic international film worth owning. I write this review on November 9, 2008 in remembrance of Kristalnacht, November 8, 1938 or The Night of Broken Glass.