Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by mr grits (A) on December 26, 2006 at 21:43:35

Probably a lot of people here have seen "The Last Days of..." but this is a movie to remember. It was so compelling in portraying the machine -like structure of the Third Reich's judicial system handling of all political cases.

Based on the true story, we see Sophie and her brother caught performing a very reckless act of "political action" by distributing anti-war leaflets in a university just before classes let out.

Once caught they enter the judicial system and Sophie's expert interrogation. Sophie's interrogator gave a most interesting performance which eventually led to her confession and show trial in front of the dreaded Friesler, chief demagogue of Nazi justice.

After quick interrogations Freisler hands out death sentences like traffic tickets and we then begin to see the emotional strain Sophie suffers after finding out she does not have the usual 99 days but just a few hours.

The film takes us through her execution by Guillotine.

This film moves with Germanic precision and probably does so by design. It's like stepping on a conveyor belt going 30 mph--you can get off, it's unstoppable.

Highly recommended.

Grits: "Rewarding, very, very, VERY REWARDING!"