THE CAPTAIN: Nihilism Rules In Brutal World War II Drama

While it’s certainly an unruly and darkly complex picture, Robert Schwentke‘s The Captain is also basically an extended episode of What Would You Do? If you’ve never seen the show, it’s a reality program that puts regular people into manufactured situations to see how they’ll respond. What would you do if you saw two parents berating their teenage child for their sexuality? What would you do if a man at a restaurant was harassing the waitress?

Or, what would you do if you found a Nazi uniform in the back of a truck?

That question is the basis of this film, which tells the true story of Willi Herold, a German private who posed as a powerful member of the Nazi hierarchy during the final days of World War II. If I’m being honest, I was completely unaware of the real life story of Herold going into this film, so I was genuinely shocked when the end credits revealed that, yes, this all really happened. I spent much of the movie thinking that certain elements were unrealistic or absurd, only to learn the horrifying truth.

But in the midst of the stomach-churning violence and unexpectedly incredible black-and-white cinematography, The Captain struggles to find a consistent thematic ethos or even a reason to exist. Between flashes of Fellini-esque surrealism and Fassbinder-like extravagance (the blood-red title card arrives 25 minutes into the film) lies a story of pure nihilism, a portrait of a man who killed without reason. Does the film have anything to say about that? Not really.

The Power Of The Uniform

When we first meet Willi Herold (Max Hubacher), we know absolutely nothing about him. He’s in a fairly anonymous uniform, running away from a group of bloodthirsty Nazi soldiers. At this point, he could be a deserter, a member of an underground resistance unit, an enemy of the army, or someone else entirely. The soldiers chase after Willi, firing at him as he frantically dashes into the forest. He hides, holding his breath and hoping that the German sharpshooter in pursuit doesn’t find him.

Once he escapes, Willi stumbles upon a Nazi captain uniform in the back of a car. At first, he wears it just as a little joke. He prances around, pretending to bark orders at imaginary soldiers as a way of getting back at the Nazi officials who hurt him for so long. But within moments, a deserter by the name of Freytag (Milan Peschel) appears on the isolated road, clearly terrified by what appears to be a high-ranking Nazi officer ahead.

Freytag obeys Willi’s orders as if he has real authority, following him and treating him like royalty. Soon enough, everyone else follows suit. Willi assembles a small team of loyal men, claiming to be on an elite mission from Hitler himself. Eventually, the members of Task Force Herold arrive at a Nazi camp, where morale is low and hundreds of deserters are locked up. Willi has no real authority, but that won’t stop him from becoming a monster.

Handsomely Crafted Tale Of Misery & Suffering

The Captain is an ugly film about ugly people doing ugly things, but writer/director Schwentke and cinematographer Florian Ballhaus clearly had a field day making such a surprisingly gorgeous picture. Well, “gorgeous” is a relative term here. The film is relentlessly stark and utterly harrowing, and the meticulous composition choices made by Schwentke reflect that horror. The barren nature of each frame reflects a world that been torn to shreds, held together only by some odd combination of pride and grotesque evil.

The decision to shoot in black-and-white is crucial, distinguishing The Captain from the boatload of World War II movies that release every single year. Those dark tones and omnipresent shadows immediately enhance the film’s pervasive darkness, creating an atmosphere that isn’t easily shaken. This is a methodical and slow picture, with scenes that unfold in a tense, often unnerving fashion.

Schwentke‘s careful framing further maintains the chilliness of the proceedings, resulting in an approach that feels reminiscent of horror and genre outings. The constraints of the true story restrict the film from ever going into full-blown exploitation mode, which is probably a good thing. But the touches of dark comedy and carnivalesque paranoia tease a much more interesting movie, one that isn’t limited by its own constant misery.

Nihilistic, Grueling & Surprisingly Pointless

While The Captain promises a moral examination of the emblems of power and the allure of personal authority, it offers no concrete thematic conclusions to its weighty, disturbing questions. And that failure begins with Captain Herold himself, played with both a charismatic and enigmatic flair by Max Hubacher. Herold remains something of a cipher throughout, the kind of man who kills just for the sake of killing. He’s a psychopath, and the film resists attempts to make him more complex or accessible.

It’s initially a compelling idea to know absolutely nothing about the main character of the story, but Schwentke keeps his cards close to the vest for far too long, opting to conceal Herold’s motivations and backstory for practically the entire film. Why did Willi run away in the first place? Is he a believer in the true Nazi cause or a dissenter who felt his actions were futile? Why has he decided to kill hundreds of people? Some could argue that Herold’s mass murders answer all of the above questions. He was a true believer who hated German efficiency and order and opted to embrace anarchy instead- at least that’s my assessment.

But the film’s lack of psychological and thematic insight eventually becomes clear, as this brutal story’s implications and provocations are revealed to be empty. The Captain basks in its own nihilism; it’s a film soaked in the blood of fatalistic ideas and an assumption of the worst human tendencies. However, that doesn’t make it interesting, and it’s unfortunately obvious that Schwentke believes cruelty and savagery are fascinating on their own. Humans will do evil, and that’s because humans are evil and so on and so forth. There’s nothing new here.

The Captain: Conclusion

The film is unbelievably grisly in its depiction of atrocities, a story highlighted by incidents of unflinching violence. These things really happened, and it’s staggering to think about in retrospect. As someone who has sat through a number of very violent war films, I have zero problem with the prevalence of graphic carnage as a storytelling tool. But there has to be a point, some profound insight that demands to be shared. The Captain‘s philosophies are rudimentary at best and recycled at worst, with an added emphasis on the animalistic instincts that we’ve all heard about hundreds of times. It feels completely pointless.

As the credits roll, Schwentke features a brief scene of Hubacher‘s Herold and his crew of followers running around in modern Germany, fooling with unsuspecting citizens in what feels like an impromptu prank. It’s a coda that feels utterly out of place in a film littered with horrifying executions and graphic murders, something out of a satire instead of a bleak drama. The Captain is the kind of project that suffers from an identity crisis, never deciding what it wants to say or how seriously it should take itself.

What did you think of The Captain? Were you impressed or baffled by this depiction of a bizarre and horrifying true story? Let us know in the comments below!

The Captain will arrive in U.S. theaters on July 27 in limited release. For full release information, click here.