Sophie Scholl: The Final Days

This film makes an interesting follow-up to Downfall, the story of Hitler’s last days. Scholl was a real person, a young woman who published an anti-Nazi newsletter with a group called The White Rose. While in the act of distributing a pamphlet that claimed the war was not going as well as Hitler’s propaganda machine wanted people to think, she was arrested and tried for aiding and abetting the enemy and demoralizing the troops, i.e., telling the truth. It’s a chilling example of what can happen when too much power is put in the hands of untrustworthy and warlike people, simply because they appealed to a nation’s patriotism. It’s also beautifully shot and acted, though it’s a bit too long and perhaps too narrow in its focus.