Rommel - DVD

Movie: France in March 1944: Field Marshal Erwin Rommel (Ulrich Tukur) is stationed far from the war zone back home, working on the Atlantic Wall to ensure that the Allies cannot invade Germany from the west. But Rommel is convinced that Hitler (Johannes Silberschneider) misjudges the long on the Western Front. In vain, he tries again and again to ask for military reinforcements, but even after the defeat at Normandy, it still falls on deaf ears. When he learns through Chief of Staff Speidel (Benjamin Sadler) that there are plans to overthrow the Führer, he rejects any form of participation in the plot, but does not betray the conspirators - a decision that will soon be his undoing...

Rommel is a lavishly produced historical drama that recounts the final months in the life of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, who became known as the Desert Fox. Niki Stein's film is neither a comprehensive biography of Rommel nor a historically accurate account of the events between March and October 1944. While the drama is obviously well researched, it does take some dramatic liberties that may offend historians and those interested in the subject matter. For the entertainment value of the film, however, they are extremely useful, which is why they shouldn't be criticized too much. Because in this way Niki Stein manages to arouse interest in the subject in an exciting and entertaining way, perhaps even in those viewers who have so far hardly or not at all dealt with this terrible time.

Handcrafted Rommel offers TV entertainment at a high level. Not only does the film have a top-notch cast, but the camerawork, effects, and set design are almost cinema class. Although there are many long dialogue scenes that come across as rather matter-of-fact and even a little dry, the action always remains exciting, interesting and entertaining. Stein also does a very good job of avoiding portraying Rommel in an overly sympathetic way. While Ulrich Tukur's doubts about Hitler's decisions and his silence when he learns of the conspiracy against the Führer give the Field Marshal General a certain humanity and also an undeniable sympathy value, the film also never lets the viewer forget that Rommel was a loyal henchman of Hitler, who believed in his omnipotence fantasies and ideals and also supported them with his obedience.

Rommel is a good example that ambition and entertainment can be combined well and that TV movies from Germany do not necessarily have to be superficial, but can offer good scripts, convincing actors and a dense, gripping production on a high level. For those who appreciate films like Der Untergang, Rommel can also be absolutely recommended. Worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The quite high budget for a TV movie and the technical effort that was made here, is also noticeable in the picture and sound quality. The very clean picture has good sharpness and a coherent color scheme, and is largely free of picture noise and other glitches even in darker sequences. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix not only makes dialogue sound powerful and easy to understand, but also provides good surround movement for various sound effects. Good!

Extras: Accompanying additional material has the DVD unfortunately not to offer.

Conclusion: Rommel is an exciting, lavishly produced historical film, which takes some dramaturgical liberties, but overall seems well researched and despite long and rather dry dialogue is very exciting staged. Without some prior knowledge, however, the whole thing could get a little confusing and at the end some questions remain unanswered, which, however, connoisseurs of the matter can answer themselves. Who can overlook some historical inaccuracies, but this exciting World War drama can definitely be recommended!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp