110 min
Germany, 1942. The Hitler regime is at the peak of its political and military power. Seventeen-year-old Friedrich Weimer, from the Berlin working-class district of Wedding, is a gifted boxer. Thanks to his talent, he receives an offer to study at an elite National-Political School, the NAPOLA of Allenstein, which trains the future leaders of the German Reich. Friedrich sees this as the chance of a lifetime to free himself from the restrictions of his class and enrolls in the school, which is located in an old castle, against the will of his parents. There, in a disconcerting world dominated by harsh Nazi discipline, he experiences both fierce rivalry and unexpected camaraderie - until a barbarous raid against escaped prisoners of war and his growing friendship with the quiet and sensitive Albrecht Stein, the son of a high-ranking official, force him to make an important decision, one that will also mark the end of his youth.
Director Dennis Gansel has transformed his award-winning screenplay, co-authored with Maggie Peren, into the gripping, nuanced portrait of a friendship between two young men caught in the barbaric mechanisms of the Nazi system. Starring Max Riemelt ("Sense 8", "The Wave") and Tom Schilling ("Oh Boy", "Who Am I").
Festivals and Awards: Berlin IFF, Karlovy Vary IFF, Mar del Plata IFF, Montreal World FF.
