Rotten
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.
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press
Before the Fall
Men make history. We make the men.
2004 · 1h 57m · N/A
Drama
Directed by
Dennis Gansel
Free account saves your watchlist and ratings.
Before the Fall
Overview
In 1942, Friedrich Weimer's boxing skills get him an appointment to a National Political Academy (NaPolA) – high schools that produce Nazi elite. Over his father's objections, Friedrich enrolls. During his year in seventh column, Friedrich encounters hazing, cruelty, death, and the Nazi code. His friendship with Albrecht, the ascetic son of the area's governor, is central to this education.
Director and cast
- Dennis Gansel Director
- Max Riemelt as Friedrich Weimer
- Tom Schilling as Albrecht Stein
- Devid Striesow as Heinrich Vogler
- Joachim Bißmeier as Karl Klein
- Justus von Dohnányi as Heinrich Stein
- Michael Schenk as Josef Peiner
- Florian Stetter as Justus von Jaucher
- Alexander Held as Friedrichs Vater
- Sissy Höfferer Cast
- Jonas Jägermeyr Cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
67%
Tomatometer
Fresh
It asks us to sympathize with teenage boys being groomed for National Socialist glory, and for that reason alone, it absorbs.
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle
Fresh
... hooks you by focusing on Friedrich's very human story.
Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle
Rotten
One senses that Gansel took the most egregious stories from his research and stuffed them all into the shapeless script.
Tom Keogh, Seattle Times
Rotten
The film is a competent but callow work dealing with a monstrous subject that automatically rejects callowness.
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
More films
Europa Europa (1990)
Drama · History · War · R
A Jewish boy separated from his family in the early days of WWII poses as a German orphan and is taken into the heart of the Nazi world as a 'war hero' and eventually becomes a Hitler Youth.
- Runtime
- 1h 52m
- Director
- Agnieszka Holland
- Cast
- Marco Hofschneider, André Wilms, René Hofschneider
IMDb
7.5
Rotten Tomatoes
95%
Metacritic
75
Schindler's List (1993)
Drama · History · War · R
The true story of how businessman Oskar Schindler saved over a thousand Jewish lives from the Nazis while they worked as slaves in his factory during World War II.
- Runtime
- 3h 15m
- Director
- Steven Spielberg
- Cast
- Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes
IMDb
9.0
Rotten Tomatoes
98%
Metacritic
95
Nuremberg (2025)
Drama · History · PG-13
In postwar Germany, an American psychiatrist must determine whether Nazi prisoners are fit to go on trial for war crimes, and finds himself in a complex battle of intellect and ethics with Hermann Göring, Hitler's right-hand man.
- Runtime
- 2h 29m
- Director
- James Vanderbilt
- Cast
- Rami Malek, Russell Crowe, Michael Shannon
IMDb
7.3
Rotten Tomatoes
72%
Metacritic
61
Apt Pupil (1998)
Drama · Thriller · R
One day in 1984, Todd Bowden, a brilliant high school boy fascinated by the history of Nazism, stumbles across an old man whose appearance resembles that of Kurt Dussander, a wanted Nazi war criminal. A month later, Todd decides to knock on his door.
- Runtime
- 1h 47m
- Director
- Bryan Singer
- Cast
- Ian McKellen, Brad Renfro, Bruce Davison
IMDb
6.7
Rotten Tomatoes
54%
Metacritic
53
The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler (2009)
Drama · War · TV-PG
Irena Sendler is a Catholic social worker who has sympathized with the Jews since her childhood, when her physician father died of typhus contracted while treating poor Jewish patients. When she initially proposes saving Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto, her idea is met with skepticism by fellow workers, her parish priest, and ev...
- Runtime
- 1h 36m
- Director
- John Kent Harrison
- Cast
- Anna Paquin, Goran Višnjić, Michelle Dockery
IMDb
7.2
The Four Robinsons (1939)
Comedy · N/A
Four friends pretend a cruise to escape their wives and go clubbing, but they are forced to go through face-saving shipwreck, becoming castaways.
- Runtime
- 1h 38m
- Director
- Eduardo García Maroto
- Cast
- Antonio Vico, Mary Santpere, Fernando Rey
IMDb
5.8
La mantilla de Beatriz (1946)
Drama · Romance · N/A
In XVII century Portugal two friends change identities so one of them can escape an unwanted marriage to Beatriz.
- Runtime
- 1h 27m
- Director
- Eduardo García Maroto
- Cast
- Virgílio Teixeira, Margarita Andrey, María Isbert
Comments
Talk about the film with other members