Robert Schwentke's 'Der Hauptmann' ('The Captain')

In a rural section of northeast Germany, in the final weeks of the war, 19-year-old Herold abandoned his company. Struggling to evade pursuers, close to starvation, he found an abandoned car containing a trunk. Inside was the uniform of a decorated Luftwaffe captain. Donning the clothing, young Herold took his first step toward a bloody new destiny.

Donning a disguise

The movie begins with a frightened, ragged Herold (Max Hubacher) running from a group of soldiers seeking to retrieve him. When he discovers the uniform, Herold’s first thoughts are merely to stay warm and elude capture. However, almost immediately he starts imagining what it must be like to wield the power and authority of a Nazi officer.

Herold quickly encounters another German soldier, likewise “separated from his unit” (this is the cover story most often given by discovered deserters, lest they be summarily shot). The soldier thinks he has chanced upon a genuine officer, and Herold must bluff his way through the encounter. The bluff works, and without hesitation, the soldier submits to this perceived captain’s command.

Herold keeps meeting other bereft soldiers, continuing his charade. With each bluff, Herold’s confidence grows, as he is further seduced by the power the uniform grants him.

However, as more people accept his authority, expectations grow for him to think and act as a Nazi officer. He crosses his emotional Rubicon when some townsfolk expect him to mete out punishment to a looter; the punishment for looting in the last days of the war was death.

Herold and his ragtag company end up at a Nazi prison camp for deserters. The officers at the camp quickly encourage Herold’s descent into brutality and murder. Thus, in the short time left before the end of the war, Herold instigates a murderous reign of terror.

The mask becomes the man

Schwentke has crafted a film of deceptively spare elegance, shot in a cool black and white reminiscent of Schindler’s List. Eschewing melodrama, Schwentke’s account of a young man’s rapid descent into monstrosity is all the more effective by being presented as a matter-of-fact example of the banality of evil.

It helps that Hubacher is so adept at mixing subtlety and intensity. At the start he is a frightened boy. But the moment he puts on that uniform and assumes his deception, he must keep that fear subsumed behind a veneer of calm. Still, the intense fear is visible in his eyes, if only betrayed by the slightest twinge. As Herold descends into evil, his interior evolution is reflected in those oh-so-expressive eyes.

It is said that war brings out the best and worst in people. It is deeply tragic that in the last days of World War II, Willi Herold was so completely seduced by the allure of fascism. Did he have that in him the whole time, or did his circumstances create it? Who can say? But we see almost daily how in some people, given the right circumstances, evil will blossom.

Perhaps one reason Willi Herold’s story and that of The Captain is so harrowing is that it feels so familiar. We know it can happen and does.