(no subject)
Originally posted in early June elsewhere
It's commonly accepted that Lethal Injection is the most humane method of execution. The condemned is sedated, sometimes sleeping, and only fuzzes into a coma same as a patient on an operating table. The humanity of the procedure applies to the witnesses as well. One needn't see a unconscious convict gulping convulsively for oxygen in the gas chamber; neither would the sweet smell of cooking flesh induce a growl from the stomach before the brain processes the appropriate queasy response.
Last Sunday Night I went to see Sophie Scholl: The final Days at the Capitol Theater. It's the account, based on unpublished transcripts recently discovered in the former East Germany and recent interviews, of three young members of Die Weiße Rose who were tried and executed in 1943 Munich for distributing pamphlets critical of Adolph Hitler and Deutschland's campaign in Europe.
I went into the movie unknowing of Scholl's story nor had I read any reviews beforehand. I knew going in, based on Capitol Theater's own discription in their guide, that she was going to be executed. Even without knowing that I wouldn't have been surprised. World War II movies from the German point of view can't have happy endings, unless you're looking at the overall picture from outside the box and consider their defeat and the rescue of the surviving camp inmates as a "happy ending".
Sophie Scholl was a former member of the Hitlerjugend who became tired of the ideology and rhetoric as she got older. When she was able to see for herself the atrocities that German soldiers were committing on civilians in the Eastern Front her resolve was set. Her brother and a few other like-minded believers started printing and distributing pamphlets exposing the truth of what was going on. They mentioned what was then the "rumour" that the deported Jews were being systematically exterminated along with Gypsies (lebensun wertes leben, life unworthy of living) and other "sub-humans". Sophie Scholl saw for herself the "cleansing" of mentally disabled children.
The pamphlets also brought to light the truth behind the government's patriotic insistence that they were winning the war. The White Rose was well aware that it was only a matter of time until America won, until then Germany could merely prolong the fighting. All "pure blooded" Germans who expressed Anti-Nazi sentiment were considered Abschaum der Nation, Scum of the Nation, more disgusting and perverse than even Jews.
The movie doesn't cover any of that except in talk and perhaps by informed viewers reading between the lines. It starts with the beginning of the end: Sophie and her brother Hans are distributing their fifth installment of flyers at the university they attend. They leave stacks of papers near stairwells and other locations where they're sure to be found. In a rash decision the 21-year-old Sophie shoves one pile over the balcony sending them flying all over the floor. Unfortunately the janitor witnessed it and turned them in.
Here's where the soul of the movie lies; the interrogation of Sophie by police captain Robert Mohr. At first she nearly gets away with it; she has an answer for everything, is able to think quickly, and her brother's answers corroborated. Unfortunately evidence is found when their apartment is searched and Hans Scholl confesses. Once she realizes there's no leaving Sophie proudly and defiantly confesses all.
Julia Jentsch and Gerald Alexander Held should have won every single cinematic award available to them for their performances. Jentsch' Sophie is calm and defiant yet the occasional hint of fear and even panic is allowed to peek behind the window from her eyes. When she's alone she allows her fear more room yet she stays her course till the end. Held's Mohr is a regular everyday German. He knows the law and he knows his duty. He knows the party line and yet he also knows his conscience. He doesn't really want to see a "dumb 21-year-old student, a mere little girl" executed over some words and thoughts. As far as he's concerned if she's guilty then she should be held accountable to the full extent of the law; he gives her every opportunity to reword her confession to possibly spare her life. She refuses. This culminates in a moment of screen genius, a symbology I've never seen done before. Perhaps for all I know it wasn't the first time ever, but it was the first I saw.
We're all familiar with Christ symbology in film: upraised arms are the most common (Willem Dafoe in Platoon) followed by pierced hands (Rutger Hauer in Bladerunner.) When Mohr tried all he could but realized Sophie intended to die if necessary so that Truth would not be compromised he ended the interrogation then went to a sink and washed his hands.
When watching the movie I knew I wanted to write something about it. I had already waited too long after seeing Steve Buscemi's Lonesome Jim and South Africa's Oscar-winning Tsotsi to write what had been fresh on my mind after viewing them. During this movie I saw lots of parallels between 1940s Germany and today's America. My original plan, in order to actually get something done instead of letting too much time pass again, was to list them off with bulletpoints and let them speak for yourself. There was an aggressive country invading foreign lands; people targeted for their religion and culture; people being called traitors for opposing the war; news and radio media calling the party line; a country unwilling to accept that history will look on them as the bad guys. There were more, many more compelling than the examples I've given.
This wasn't necessarily director Marc Rothemund's intent. Most of his movie's dialogue is taken from newly unearthed court and police transcripts. He filmed it as it was without needing to add any Hollywood or cinematic tricks. Eyewitness accounts corroborate much of the film's events. Rothemund himself does not believe George W. Bush should be compared to Adolph Hitler. I agree; Hitler was elected.
Even knowing how the story must progress it's disheartening to see young college students rushed through a secret military kangaroo court with sinister and/or ineffectual defense attorneys; they're barely allowed to speak for themselves before being sentenced. It's almost distressing, after making comparisons throughout the whole movie between then and now and wondering if we are now getting a glimpse of the near future. Sophie informs the judge that while she's the one who stands there today, tomorrow he will be the one standing there before the World in judgement. We know she's correct but we also know that's not for many more months. Sophie Scholl will not see that day happen.
Even though German law didn't allow the condemned to be executed until 99 days after sentencing Sophie found herself being led to the death house within two hours.
Whenever I've read anything concerning Nazi executions it's always invariably been firing squad or hanging. Mention of hanging was made throughout the movie. When Sophie was led into the room and the black curtain was pulled aside I audibly gasped. If I were a European I most likely would've known this already; Sophie Scholl is considered a national hero in Germany; over 100 schools are named after her.
I am an American, and I learned her story for the first time that night. I was unprepared for the curtain to reveal a guillotine.
Those following the parallels and wondering about the future may argue that civilized countries don't use the guillotine anymore. Outside of Muslim countries state-sanctioned beheading is unheard of. But according to the New Testament during the end times that will be the method of execution used by Antichrist for those refusing the follow his will. Signs that those days are imminent will include the nations becoming one (New World Order; United Nations), one currency (Euro anyone?), and a mark, either inserted in the forehead or the right hand, required for purchasing any goods anywhere (microchip technology makes that possible; pets are microchipped and arguments have been made in favor of microchipping children). As it is I practically make all my purchases with a plastic card from which the records of my transactions can be followed by anyone interested.
But of course I'm just being paranoid, right? Just like those ungrateful college students, using the German government's money for their scholarships, spreading "lies" and "propaganda" about the fate of the Jews (who after all, if Government is always to be believed in time of war, were gainfully employed and helping the cause on the Eastern Front)
It's commonly accepted that Lethal Injection is the most humane method of execution. The condemned is sedated, sometimes sleeping, and only fuzzes into a coma same as a patient on an operating table. The humanity of the procedure applies to the witnesses as well. One needn't see a unconscious convict gulping convulsively for oxygen in the gas chamber; neither would the sweet smell of cooking flesh induce a growl from the stomach before the brain processes the appropriate queasy response.
Last Sunday Night I went to see Sophie Scholl: The final Days at the Capitol Theater. It's the account, based on unpublished transcripts recently discovered in the former East Germany and recent interviews, of three young members of Die Weiße Rose who were tried and executed in 1943 Munich for distributing pamphlets critical of Adolph Hitler and Deutschland's campaign in Europe.
I went into the movie unknowing of Scholl's story nor had I read any reviews beforehand. I knew going in, based on Capitol Theater's own discription in their guide, that she was going to be executed. Even without knowing that I wouldn't have been surprised. World War II movies from the German point of view can't have happy endings, unless you're looking at the overall picture from outside the box and consider their defeat and the rescue of the surviving camp inmates as a "happy ending".
Sophie Scholl was a former member of the Hitlerjugend who became tired of the ideology and rhetoric as she got older. When she was able to see for herself the atrocities that German soldiers were committing on civilians in the Eastern Front her resolve was set. Her brother and a few other like-minded believers started printing and distributing pamphlets exposing the truth of what was going on. They mentioned what was then the "rumour" that the deported Jews were being systematically exterminated along with Gypsies (lebensun wertes leben, life unworthy of living) and other "sub-humans". Sophie Scholl saw for herself the "cleansing" of mentally disabled children.
The pamphlets also brought to light the truth behind the government's patriotic insistence that they were winning the war. The White Rose was well aware that it was only a matter of time until America won, until then Germany could merely prolong the fighting. All "pure blooded" Germans who expressed Anti-Nazi sentiment were considered Abschaum der Nation, Scum of the Nation, more disgusting and perverse than even Jews.
The movie doesn't cover any of that except in talk and perhaps by informed viewers reading between the lines. It starts with the beginning of the end: Sophie and her brother Hans are distributing their fifth installment of flyers at the university they attend. They leave stacks of papers near stairwells and other locations where they're sure to be found. In a rash decision the 21-year-old Sophie shoves one pile over the balcony sending them flying all over the floor. Unfortunately the janitor witnessed it and turned them in.
Here's where the soul of the movie lies; the interrogation of Sophie by police captain Robert Mohr. At first she nearly gets away with it; she has an answer for everything, is able to think quickly, and her brother's answers corroborated. Unfortunately evidence is found when their apartment is searched and Hans Scholl confesses. Once she realizes there's no leaving Sophie proudly and defiantly confesses all.
Julia Jentsch and Gerald Alexander Held should have won every single cinematic award available to them for their performances. Jentsch' Sophie is calm and defiant yet the occasional hint of fear and even panic is allowed to peek behind the window from her eyes. When she's alone she allows her fear more room yet she stays her course till the end. Held's Mohr is a regular everyday German. He knows the law and he knows his duty. He knows the party line and yet he also knows his conscience. He doesn't really want to see a "dumb 21-year-old student, a mere little girl" executed over some words and thoughts. As far as he's concerned if she's guilty then she should be held accountable to the full extent of the law; he gives her every opportunity to reword her confession to possibly spare her life. She refuses. This culminates in a moment of screen genius, a symbology I've never seen done before. Perhaps for all I know it wasn't the first time ever, but it was the first I saw.
We're all familiar with Christ symbology in film: upraised arms are the most common (Willem Dafoe in Platoon) followed by pierced hands (Rutger Hauer in Bladerunner.) When Mohr tried all he could but realized Sophie intended to die if necessary so that Truth would not be compromised he ended the interrogation then went to a sink and washed his hands.
When watching the movie I knew I wanted to write something about it. I had already waited too long after seeing Steve Buscemi's Lonesome Jim and South Africa's Oscar-winning Tsotsi to write what had been fresh on my mind after viewing them. During this movie I saw lots of parallels between 1940s Germany and today's America. My original plan, in order to actually get something done instead of letting too much time pass again, was to list them off with bulletpoints and let them speak for yourself. There was an aggressive country invading foreign lands; people targeted for their religion and culture; people being called traitors for opposing the war; news and radio media calling the party line; a country unwilling to accept that history will look on them as the bad guys. There were more, many more compelling than the examples I've given.
This wasn't necessarily director Marc Rothemund's intent. Most of his movie's dialogue is taken from newly unearthed court and police transcripts. He filmed it as it was without needing to add any Hollywood or cinematic tricks. Eyewitness accounts corroborate much of the film's events. Rothemund himself does not believe George W. Bush should be compared to Adolph Hitler. I agree; Hitler was elected.
Even knowing how the story must progress it's disheartening to see young college students rushed through a secret military kangaroo court with sinister and/or ineffectual defense attorneys; they're barely allowed to speak for themselves before being sentenced. It's almost distressing, after making comparisons throughout the whole movie between then and now and wondering if we are now getting a glimpse of the near future. Sophie informs the judge that while she's the one who stands there today, tomorrow he will be the one standing there before the World in judgement. We know she's correct but we also know that's not for many more months. Sophie Scholl will not see that day happen.
Even though German law didn't allow the condemned to be executed until 99 days after sentencing Sophie found herself being led to the death house within two hours.
Whenever I've read anything concerning Nazi executions it's always invariably been firing squad or hanging. Mention of hanging was made throughout the movie. When Sophie was led into the room and the black curtain was pulled aside I audibly gasped. If I were a European I most likely would've known this already; Sophie Scholl is considered a national hero in Germany; over 100 schools are named after her.
I am an American, and I learned her story for the first time that night. I was unprepared for the curtain to reveal a guillotine.
Those following the parallels and wondering about the future may argue that civilized countries don't use the guillotine anymore. Outside of Muslim countries state-sanctioned beheading is unheard of. But according to the New Testament during the end times that will be the method of execution used by Antichrist for those refusing the follow his will. Signs that those days are imminent will include the nations becoming one (New World Order; United Nations), one currency (Euro anyone?), and a mark, either inserted in the forehead or the right hand, required for purchasing any goods anywhere (microchip technology makes that possible; pets are microchipped and arguments have been made in favor of microchipping children). As it is I practically make all my purchases with a plastic card from which the records of my transactions can be followed by anyone interested.
But of course I'm just being paranoid, right? Just like those ungrateful college students, using the German government's money for their scholarships, spreading "lies" and "propaganda" about the fate of the Jews (who after all, if Government is always to be believed in time of war, were gainfully employed and helping the cause on the Eastern Front)