Fünf letzte Tage

Fünf letzte Tage (Five Last Days) is a West German film about the last days in 1943 of Sophie Scholl. Scholl was a member of the anti-war group Weiße Rose. She was executed for her non-violent activities by the National Socialist regime during the Second World War. The film was directed by Percy Adlon, who also wrote the script. Eleonore Adlon was the producer, and Horst Lermer the cinematographer. The music was taken from Franz Schubert. It was released on 16 October 1982, and was first shown on public television on 20 February 1983. The film received national and international awards for actors and direction.

Fünf letzte Tage
Directed by	Percy Adlon
Written by	Percy Adlon
Based on	Lives of Sophie Scholl and Else Gebel
Produced by	Eleonore Adlon
Starring	Lena Stolze Irm Hermann Michael Cornelius
Cinematography	Horst Lermer
Edited by	Clara Fabry
Music by	Franz Schubert
Release date	16 October 1982 (1982-10-16)
Running time	112 minutes
Country	West Germany
Language	German

Plot

While the later film Sophie Scholl – Die letzten Tage (2005) deals with the last days of Sophie Scholl from her own perspective, Percy Adlon looked at her last five days from the perspective of Else Gebel, a Christian socialist imprisoned with her. The film is focused on the women's situation, exhaustion and relationship, and not on the Gestapo interrogations and the court process.

Roles

• Lena Stolze: Sophie Scholl
• Irm Hermann: Else Gebel
• Michael Cornelius: Hans Scholl
• Willi Spindler: Civil servant G.
• Hans Hirschmüller: Mahr
• Philip Arp: Philip
• Joachim Bernhard: Watchman 1
• Ossi Eckmüller
• Hans Stadlbauer: Watchman 2
• Gert Burkard: Public defender

Reception

The Lexikon des internationalen Films noted: "Strict, reserved and detached, a character study in the style of a psychological chamber play that does without narrative embellishment and spectacular dramatisation." ("Streng, zurückhaltend und distanziert inszenierte Charakterstudie im Stil eines psychologischen Kammerspiels, die auf narrative Ausschmückung und spektakuläre Dramatisierung verzichtet.") The journal Cinema described the film as a "brittle chamber play in pale colours" ("... sprödes Kammerspiel in bleichen Farben").

Awards

• Deutscher Filmpreis 1983:
  • Filmband in Gold in the category "Best acting" for Irm Hermann
  • Filmband in Gold in the category "Best acting" for Lena Stolze
  • Filmband in Silver in the category "Full-length drama film"
• Venice Film Festival 1982: OCIC-Preis
• Jugendfilmfestival Cannes 1983: Prix des Jeunes
• Bayerischer Filmpreis: Regiepreis

See also

• Die Weiße Rose (film), released 24 September 1982, where Lena Stolze also portrayed Sophie Scholl

Further reading

• Niven, B.; Paver, C. (December 18, 2009). Memorialization in Germany since 1945. Springer. p. 159. ISBN 9780230248502. Adlon's film draws upon redemptive quasi-religious imagery and notions of conscious self-sacrifice, heroism, and atonement in the students' actions, similar to the cultural memories of the group that emerged and were appropriated in the immediate post-war period.
• Clarke, David (2010). "German Martyrs: Images of Christianity and Resistance to National Socialism in German Cinema". In Cooke, Paul; Silberman, Marc (eds.). Screening War: Perspectives on German Suffering. Camden House. p. 51. ISBN 9781571134370. OCLC 812654716. The film is also striking because the viewer is shown the admiring reactions to Sophie by her fellow prisoners and even her interrogator. Adlon's film gives a strong sense that the other figures already know what a significant person she is or will be in the future ...

External links

• Fünf letzte Tage at IMDb
• Fünf letzte Tage kinowelt-international.de