The Red Baron (2008)

The Red Barron
Directed and written by Nikolai Mullerschon.


Rating: 9 for its kind




Watch-ability: It is more concerned with telling the amazing history of the Red Baron, then in entertaining you. I thought that was amazing, but if you have no interest in history you may not like it. ;-)
It did have some pretty nasty disturbing images. It also had some other things it could have done without. :-P
Impact: 8

Watch it Again: YES!!!!!!!!!!!
Recommend it: Yes.

Originally released in Austria.

Staring Matthias Schweighofer, Joseph Fiennes, and Lena Headey.

Rated PG-13 for disturbing violence, mild language, and some suggestive material.

The financing for this film came exclusively from well-to-do individuals living in the state of Baden-Wuttemberg in the honor of these men's place in history.

Here is one of the trailers. Youtube has changed their setting so they no longer give you a size that fits on average blogs. :-P If you want to see the whole thing, go to this link on Youtube.



Warning: The views on this movie may be skewed.
I enjoy history, am fascinated with the World Wars, have a weakness for fighter pilots, and a greater weakness for Germans. See this post...

What to Expect

The Red Baron was created to honor the lives of these pilots. It jumps around a bit to follow the life of Baron Manfred von Richthofen, his role in the First World War and his character struggles and change.

This movie has a similar flavor to Flyboys, except it is not as well done...
Having said that, it is amazing in the fact that it just portrays the events and characters and lets you fall in love with them or not as you choose. It doesn't press anything on you or ask for sympathy.

In general the acting was very good. I was originally excited because I have watched a few movies with Joseph Fiennes and really enjoyed his acting. His performance in this was disappointing. He plays the typical cheesy American that reside in foreign films.

My Squib

Matthias Schweighofen did an excellent job in this movie.
(For those of you who do not keep up-to-date on these things, Matthias Schweighofen plays Lieutenant Herber in Valkyrie. He's a character you really want to like, but in the end turns them in. Loser. Anyways...)

At first I didn't like him much at all. Fredrick Sternberg, played by Maxim Mehmet, was my early favorite. But Schweighofen developed the Baron's character in such away that by the end you really loved him, with all his problems. I think he was one of the most interesting characters I've seen in a movie in a long time.

I really liked how they included pieces of the lives of so many historical characters. The only character that was fictitious was Fredrick Sternberg. He was included in memoriam of all the Jewish pilots that fought and died in the First World War...and he was amazing. ;-)

I could go on forever, but I won't. If you watch it, we can talk about it sometimes.

Okay...so I loved this movie.

From the Movie

Read this amazing quote by Baron Richthofen to his girl, Kate.
The Baron is offered to become the leader of the entire air force. Of course his girl is ultra excited because now he won't be getting shot down.
He refuses the position without telling her. When she does find out they, of course, get in a little bicker. This is his response...

"When I was a little boy, I could hit all the targets with my father's rifle, targets so far away the others couldn't even see them. I dreamt of seeing everything and of being like a bird. Hawk's eyes, eagle's eyes it was called.

When I became a pilot, I truly thought I would see everything from up there. I saw nothing. I was blind before I met you. You opened my eyes, you taught me to see what I didn't want to see. We all chose to fly; Voss, Sternberg, Immelmann, Wolff, Hawker, and whatever side we took we all knew the risk we took.

I wanted to be the best. I wanted to win and I thought I won. I can see now, Käte, we've turned the world into a damn slaughterhouse and I'm already too big a part of it. They use my photograph to give hope where there is none. They use my name to feign immortality whereas the reality is annihilation. You said it yourself, the men dying out there have no choice. I have and I cannot order men into battle. I can, perhaps, lead them, help them, die with them, but I will not betray them or keep the truth from them by remaining the immortal god that Berlin wants me to be.
You are my greatest victory."


Visit the movies website.

Read more about the real Red Baron on Wikipedia.

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian