2008-04-02 09:54:26
By Tristana Moore
BBC News, Berlin
Scene from The Red Baron, pic courtesy of Niama Film/Nadja Klier
The Red Baron is shown becoming disillusioned about war
He is a handsome, blond, young pilot - and he's not your typical baddie.
In the new film The Red Baron, which had its premiere in Berlin on Monday
night, Germany's legendary flying ace, Manfred von Richthofen, is portrayed as
an emotional, sensitive man.
A replica of the Fokker triplane from World War I was planted outside the
CineStar cinema in Berlin's Potsdamer Platz, as crowds gathered for the
traditional red-carpet welcome.
Funnily enough, although the film has been billed as a taboo-breaker, given the
fact that von Richthofen is depicted as a heroic figure, many young Germans
have hardly heard of him.
"Who is the Red Baron?" one woman asked me.
But, like it or not, the film is bound to provoke another round of
soul-searching about Germany's wartime past.
Scene from The Red Baron, pic courtesy of Niama Film/Nadja Klier
The upper-class pilots behave like spoilt children
Dashing airmen
Manfred von Richthofen, who shot down 80 British, Canadian and Australian
pilots during World War I, is played by the dashing German actor, Matthias
Schweighoefer.
The film shows how 24-year-old Von Richthofen and his fellow airmen treat the
war like a sport, hunting down the enemy in lively air-battle scenes.
"It was fun," they say, after engaging in a dangerous dogfight.
The pilots, who come from an upper-class background, behave like spoilt
children.
They take their fur coats into the cockpits of the fighters.
But as the war progresses, and the casualties mount, Von Richthofen's initial
idealism fades.
The young pilot, known as "the Red Baron", who painted his plane red, falls in
love with a nurse, played by the British actress Lena Headey.
Personal struggle
Von Richthofen gives her the credit for opening his eyes to the cruelty of war
and after other pilots die in action, the Red Baron becomes disillusioned.
In the film, he is seen to be undergoing an immense personal struggle.
Historically Germans have been reluctant and there are strong voices in Germany
still saying we're not allowed to do this: a film about a German war hero
Nikolai Muellerschoen, director
On the one hand, Von Richthofen is portrayed as a German war hero, who led
Jagdgeschwader I, a German squadron of fighter planes in his bright red Fokker
triplane. But on the other hand, Von Richthofen falls in love and gradually
realises that the war cannot be won.
The film, with its sentimental touch, makes you aware of Von Richthofen's
humanity.
The young officer falls to pieces when his friends die, he buys a harmonica for
a friend, and he feels embarrassed because he cannot dance well.
Hero of his time
For Germans, the film is controversial.
"You have a completely different perspective here," said the actor Matthias
Schweighoefer, who plays the leading role, despite the fact that he used to be
afraid of flying.
"But I can understand that one has problems with a war hero."
Scene from The Red Baron, pic courtesy of Niama Film/Nadja Klier
The pilot acquired his nickname after he painted his plane red
The 27-year-old actor said Von Richthofen was "a hero of his time he was a
brave man."
Schweighoefer said he gave a private screening to the Hollywood star Tom
Cruise, who was in Berlin last year filming Valkyrie, a historical drama about
the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
"We watched it together, and afterwards Tom jumped up and said, 'It's great
that you made a film like this in Germany'," Schweighoefer said.
The fact that German soldiers are depicted as heroes is contentious.
Difficult territory
Normally German films dwell on the extremism of the Nazi regime, focusing on
the perpetrators of atrocities and the victims of the Holocaust.
It is clear the makers of The Red Baron knew that they were venturing into
tricky ground.
But they claim it is an explicit anti-war film.
The writer and director of The Red Baron, Nikolai Muellerschoen, said:
"Historically Germans have been reluctant and there are strong voices in
Germany still saying we're not allowed to do this: a film about a German war
hero.
"But the film makes a very clear statement against war. In it Richthofen says
that he understands everyone has turned this world into a slaughterhouse and
the war cannot be won.
"He says he's not going to be the immortal god that Berlin wants him to be; he
knew millions were lured into the trenches with such propaganda," he said.
The film, which cost 18m euros ( 14m; $28m) to produce, also stars the British
actor Joseph Fiennes as Capt Roy Brown, a Canadian pilot whose plane is shot
down by Von Richthofen in their first aerial encounter.
So who was the Red Baron?
The Blue Max
Manfred von Richthofen was born in Silesia in 1892 into a rich Prussian
aristocratic family.
He went to an army cadet school and after World War I broke out, he joined the
Flying Service in 1915.
In 1917, Von Richthofen was awarded the highest military honour in Germany at
that time, the Blue Max.
Later, he became the commander of the Jagdgeschwader I (wing) formations, which
became known as the Flying Circus, because the fighter planes were brightly
decorated aircraft.
Von Richthofen was 25 years old when he was killed in combat in the Somme
Valley in April 1918, shortly before his 26th birthday.
The exact circumstances of his death remain unclear.
The Red Baron received a lukewarm reception at the Berlin premiere.
The film opens in German cinemas on 10 April and it will be interesting to see
whether it rekindles interest in the legendary German flying ace.