Before the Fall (Napola) (2004)

68% of critics liked it
(38 reviews)
85% of users liked it
(4,474 ratings)

One of the Third Reich's sinister plans for training a legion of strong and obedient young men to do their bidding is exposed in this historical drama, inspired by true-life events. In 1942, Friedrich Weimer (Max Riemelt) is a 16-year-old amateur fighter who is spotted while working out at a boxing… More One of the Third Reich's sinister plans for training a legion of strong and obedient young men to do their bidding is exposed in this historical drama, inspired by true-life events. In 1942, Friedrich Weimer (Max Riemelt) is a 16-year-old amateur fighter who is spotted while working out at a boxing club by Heinrich Vogler (Devid Striesow). Vogler is a recruiter for the National-Political Institutes of Learning (called "NAPOLA" for short), where promising young men with various talents will be taught to hone their strength, cunning, and fearlessness to a fine point, with the ultimate goal of using NAPOLA graduates to help rule the territories Nazis will overtake once they've won the war. Vogler invites Weimer to join the NAPOLA training facility in Allenstein, and he accepts, despite the strong misgivings of his family. Weimer is at first enthusiastic and committed to his new regimen, and becomes friendly with a fellow student, Albrecht Stein (Tom Schilling), an aspiring writer whose father, a important man in the German military, would like to see him join the SS. Stein does not embrace the training with the same enthusiasm as many of his fellows, and in time he and Weimer develop feelings for one another that go beyond friendship. In time, Weimer begins to lose his enthusiasm for NAPOLA, especially after a mission to find escaped Russian prisoners leads to the death of unarmed teenagers, and he looks for a way to rebel against the repressive system. Filmmaker Dennis Gansel dedicated Before the Fall to his grandfather, Peter Fritz Gansel, a NAPOLA veteran whose stories of the school's brutality inspired the movie. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 51 min.
Directed By: Dennis Gansel
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Jul 4, 2004 Wide
On DVD: Jun 13, 2006
Studio: Picture This! Entertainment

Critic Reviews

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press
Nearly every point made in Before the Fall, be it about militarism or the secret sexual codes of fascism, is made too obviously, or has been made before, in films from Cabaret to Europa, Europa.
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle
It asks us to sympathize with teenage boys being groomed for National Socialist glory, and for that reason alone, it absorbs.
Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle
... hooks you by focusing on Friedrich's very human story.
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
The film is a competent but callow work dealing with a monstrous subject that automatically rejects callowness.
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A fascinating look at a little-known aspect of the Nazi regime.
Janice Page, Boston Globe
The best thing about Gansel's film is it doesn't ask you to absolve anyone; it only tries to make everyone a little more human.
Paul Chambers, CNNRadio
Quite a nice study of the Germany military schools where young men were most sheltered from the atrocities of World War II. The central character knows what's happening but instead focuses on a better future than his father had. But, still decisions mus
Eric D. Snider, EricDSnider.com
Gansel is to be commended for finding a way to tell a beautiful story simultaneous with indicting his countrymen for their ugliness.
Jeff Vice, Deseret News, Salt Lake City
The plotting is too obvious, too contrived and too convenient.
Arthur Salm, San Diego Union-Tribune
Friedrich isn't particularly sharp, but Riemelt's wonderfully nuanced performance gives him intricate layers of feeling.
Tom Keogh, Seattle Times
One senses that Gansel took the most egregious stories from his research and stuffed them all into the shapeless script.
Sean Axmaker, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
... the coming-of-age military drama is... the same old drill driven by brutal master race fervor.

Read all 12 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Cynthia S

These are the kinds of movies that people who don't like to read sub-titles miss out on. This was a great original story set right before WWII. It's really rare to get to view the other side of the story...the side where not all Germans wanted to follow Hitler, but were… More
These are the kinds of movies that people who don't like to read sub-titles miss out on. This was a great original story set right before WWII. It's really rare to get to view the other side of the story...the side where not all Germans wanted to follow Hitler, but were forced to. It's very enlightening.
Lady D

An intense Drama of powerful proportions. This is a film about ambition, conformity and above all, questioning beliefs. A film that cannot fail to make an impact on you. The style of this film was an interesting perspective, aiming the storyline at the Cadet age group, which… More
An intense Drama of powerful proportions. This is a film about ambition, conformity and above all, questioning beliefs. A film that cannot fail to make an impact on you. The style of this film was an interesting perspective, aiming the storyline at the Cadet age group, which brought forward some interesting characters and led to some interesting training scenes. A wonderful performance from Max Riemelt. This film is an instant favourite with me.
Daisy M

Before the Fall, another German movie about WWII, only this one showed what happened in the German Elite Nazi school for male teenagers in 1942. Students were being trained to become future SS leaders, to be ruthless, hard without feeling any pain that their actions might cause their… More
Before the Fall, another German movie about WWII, only this one showed what happened in the German Elite Nazi school for male teenagers in 1942. Students were being trained to become future SS leaders, to be ruthless, hard without feeling any pain that their actions might cause their friend, family or the enemy.The movie showed some of the students who rejected their training and the consequences of their decisions.The effort to create a perfect controlling race was the main driving force behind the story. But instead we saw humanity winning over a truly evil and brutal regime. And that was the beauty of the movie. It was told in a very simple and sensitive way, with excellent acting and beautiful cinematography.