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'Before the Fall': A tale of monsters in the making

"Before the Fall" would be just another boys boarding-school movie — better than "Dead Poets Society," not as good as "If ..." or "Zero de Conduite" — except that it's set in Germany in 1942.

A fascinating look at a little-known aspect of the Nazi regime, the movie is set at a napola — that is, one of several exclusive schools where the country's best and brightest were trained to become future leaders of the Third Reich.

Bavaria Media 'Before the Fall' B+ The verdict: A somewhat predictable boys boarding-school movie is rendered much more intriguing by its setting: Nazi Germany in 1942. Directors: Werner Herzog, Dennis Gansel Starring: Devid Striesow, Joachim Bissmeier, Justus von Dohnanyi, Michael Schenk, Michael Kroecher Run time: 111 minutes Release date: Oct. 7 15, 2005 Rating: Not rated Rate 'Before the Fall'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

Typically, the student body came from the wealthiest families, but there were exceptions. One is Friedrich Weimer (well-played by German matinee idol Max Riemelt), a strapping young boxer from a working-class family who is offered the chance of a lifetime when a recruiter watches him fight and offers him a spot at one of the private schools. It's preferable to a future in the factory, but his father wants nothing to do with the Nazis. So Friedrich forges his signature and goes anyway (in the process unwittingly sending the Gestapo to look up his dad for a little talk).

Initially, Friedrich is eager to goose-step along with his classmates as they're taught a pro-Nazi curriculum that matter-of-factly suggests some people might not be as, um, pure as others. And the proper way to greet a faculty member, of course, is with a crisp "Sieg Heil!"

But when Friedrich becomes best friends with Albrecht Stein (Tom Schilling), the sensitive, intellectual son of the local high-ranking Nazi brute, he begins to question the school's narrow-minded, arrogant and often cruel way of doing things.

Like many boarding school "friendships," this one has certain homoerotic undertones that are never acted upon. But through Albrecht, Friedrich manages to receive a truly moral education, one that's antithetical to the napola's swastika-drenched agenda.

The Final Solution, another favorite Hitler project, is only glancingly referred to. Before he can be accepted, Friedrich's head and features are carefully measured. Luckily, he's a perfect Nordic type.

Writer-director Dennis Gansel has shot "Before the Fall" in desaturated colors, punctuated here and there by the bright red of a Nazi armband or the blood of slaughtered children. It gives the film an out-of-the-past feel, as if we were watching newly discovered archival footage. The plot, however, can veer into the overly dramatic, which somewhat weakens the picture's impact.

But not all that much. As "Before the Fall" demonstrates, Nazi-think was designed to seduce a nation. And it did. With frightening ease. "Men make history, and we make men," the napola's headmaster is fond of saying.

Perhaps a more accurate motto would've been: Monsters make history, and we make monsters. Humanists, poets, and free-thinkers need not apply.