Der rote Baron (2008)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Nikolai Müllerschön

Writer (WGA):

Nikolai Müllerschön (written by)

Release Date:

10 April 2008 (Germany)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Biography | Drama | Romance | War

Tagline:

One warrior ruled the sky.

Plot:

Baron Manfred von Richthofen (Schweighöfer) is the most feared and celebrated pilot of the German air force in World War I...

Plot Keywords:

Pilot | Propaganda | Nurse | Love | Automatic Weapon

Cast

Tomás Koutník	...	Young Manfred von Richthofen
Tomás Ibl	...	Young Lothar von Richthofen
Albert Franc	...	Young Wolfram von Richthofen
Matthias Schweighöfer	...	Manfred von Richthofen
Maxim Mehmet	...	Friedrich Sternberg
Hanno Koffler	...	Lehmann
Til Schweiger	...	Werner Voss
Richard Krajco	...	Lanoe Hawker
Joseph Fiennes	...	Capt. Roy Brown
Steffen Schroeder	...	Bodenschatz
Lukás Príkazký	...	Kirmaier
Lena Headey	...	Käte Otersdorf
Ondrej Volejník	...	1st German Soldier
Jirí Wohanka	...	2nd German Soldier
Iveta Jirícková	...	Redhead Whore

Also Known As:

The Red Baron (International: English title)

Runtime:

129 min

Country:

Germany | UK

Language:

English | German | French

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Germany:12 | Finland:K-13

Filming Locations:

Barrandov Studios, Prague, Czech Republic

Company:

Niama Film

Trivia:

Val Kilmer was initially considered for the title role.

Goofs:

Factual errors: In the movie, Lt. Kurt Wolff is shot down during a night mission. According to his wingman Lt. Carl-August von Schoenebeck, who was with Wolff on his last mission, Wolff was shot down in a dogfight which took place at day-time.

Movie Connections:

References Apocalypse Now (1979)

Fast forward movie

One of the worst movies I have seen recently.

The main interest in films such as this one, are the aeroplanes. Especially in this movie, because the story is so embarrassingly bad and I am surprised that at this moment in film history the Germans still speak English! I had hoped that practice had disappeared with Eastwood's Japanese double. And to have German actors speak English just makes it worse. A travesty.

To come back to the aeroplanes: they look like toy planes (totally rigid when flying, for instance). There isn't a single scene of flying which convinces intuitively. It seems very difficult to get this right, the digital artists haven't figured it out. Even in "Band of Brothers", the more than excellent series about the US 101 Airborne, the scenes with the Dakotas flying to drop the men in Normandy look like moving romantic paintings and the same happens here. With even more silly unnecessary details added, such as the camshafts moving on the engines (sometimes not), to add credibility (or to distract from the fact that the guy is sitting in a studio looking angrily into a wind-machine). Razzie nomination for bad story (who had thought Richthofen's legend was about a nurse?), bad language (English) and bad images.