Captain 12/18 Blu-ray (Rental)

Product Description Based on the arresting true story of the Executioner of Emsland, The Captain follows a German army deserter, Willi Herold (Max Hubacher), after he finds an abandoned Nazi captain's uniform in the final weeks of World War II. Emboldened by the authority the uniform grants him, he amasses a band of stragglers who cede to his command despite the suspicions of some. Citing direct orders from the Fuhrer himself, he soon takes command of a camp holding German soldiers accused of desertion and begins to dispense harsh justice. Increasingly intoxicated by the unquestioned authority, this enigmatic imposter soon discovers that many people will blindly follow the leader, whomever that happens to be. Simultaneously a historical docudrama and sociological examination with undertones of the absurd, The Captain presents fascism as something of a game to be played by those most gullible and unscrupulous. Review NYT Critic's Pick Astonishing. A harrowing World War II psychodrama. --Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times Hollywood will be hard-pressed to come up with a more horrifying film this year than writer-director Robert Schwentke's The Captain... A brave and uncompromising indictment of human nature, Teutonic or otherwise … Absurdist burlesque … Hardly the kind of penitent, play-it-safe war movie we so often get from Germany: grim, TV-funded costume dramas that get caught up in all the period-correct pageantry while respectfully distancing themselves from the past. Few and far between are the movies … that actually implicate modern viewers in the evil, which is precisely what makes The Captain such a remarkable film. --Peter DeBruge, Variety Chilling and yet, at times, almost farcical...Unnerving and surreal...A psychological exploration of fascism's roots in the cowardly human heart...Max Hubacher's performance is a masterful physical feat. --April Wolfe, The Village Voice