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G21 INTERVIEWS: MARC ROTHEMUND - Media Editor Brad Balfour talks with the German director of the acclaimed new film "Sophie Scholl" about his exploratin of German history.
New York, NY, USA - In "Sophie Scholl," German actress Julia Jentsch plays a young woman who joined her brother and friends in the White Rose, an anti-Nazi student organization; they wrote several tracts that were circulated until they were caught and several members of the group, including Scholl, were executed. Of all them, Scholl had the least connection and could have saved herself when grilled by the Gestapo. Instead she went to her death proclaiming the virtues of their resistance. German director Marc Rothemund delved into her story for his dramatic feature debut (he had done TV films and two comedies), found new details about the story and focused his film on her final days.
G21: What motivated you to do this film?
MR: The only motivation I had was a person interested in finding out what happened in these last final day to this 21 year-old woman. It was just a personal interest. I started researching without being sure I was going to make a movie about it. You have to have a personal moti vation for this topic and this character. I'm glad that this is one of the few movies that isn't always about the man in uniform and the blonde clichéd guys.
I think it's much better to share this time and identify with a person that was a quite normal young woman and to see this time through her eyes. Of course I could have chose one of the other members but she was the only woman. She was only [the] one distributing not writing them which meant she could have saved her life. She was the youngest. All the other members of the White Rose that were witnessing the murders of children [on the Eastern Front in Russia], and they reported it to her. It's also easier to identify with someone who was not witnessing by herself and to get the reports. She was a really interesting person.
And now this story of Sophie Scholl and the performance of Julia really touches hearts around the world. Its not just about German history. In South America, China, Korea and Japan, and they only overcame their military dictatorship say 30 years ago, and they admired this character because of it is a very international topic. It's a matter of civil courage and standing up against injustice, It touches hearts around the world. The recent screenings in New Jersey were unbelievable. They all hoped that the young Americans will see this kind of character. They weren't just talking about Germany.
G21: Did you fear that this film wouldn't get the exposure it deserved?
MR: No. Our premiere at the Berlin Film Festival had [a] 20 minute standing ovation. We won two awards - Best Actor and Best Director. At this point there is no fear possibly because it has had such a great reaction.
I was nervous at a distributors' screening because we weren't sure we would find someone that would release it here. But they loved the movie said it was their kind of movie - and not only do you learn something from German history but it's an international character that could touch the hearts in America and around the world. It's about civil courage.
It was sold - and that was unbelievable; it was an honor. But what really surprised me was that the audience - we had screenings in New jersey and there were about 500 people in each screening, only Americans - were crying and touched and they understood the message. All of them told me that they are full of hope. We won the Hampton Audience Award.
The young people in America will see this character. To learn about the character that stands up for human rights and is curious enough to learn about the politics and the background. It was really surprising how they found the parallel to American society nowadays.
G21: Were you surprised about the information you discovered concerning Sophia Scholl?
MR: It's the reason why I made the movie, because I was so surprised to find out so many things. In Germany, she's a heroine, a martyr. After her arrest, she was so courageous. But you find out she's lying in the beginning of the interrogation. She's fighting for her life. She's says that she's not involved in these leaflets. I found this out by asking the last living sister of Sophia Scholl. I found out so much about her education at home. I found letters and diaries about her belief in God.
I found out how a 21 year old woman spent four days in the Gestapo headquarters. In the beginning she [is] lying for her life and the Gestapo head officer is very tough and after three days of interrogation he tries to save her life. And she's says "No I don't regret it; I would do exactly the same thing again."
I found out so many things about this character that I was sure no one in Germany knew about though everyone knows who she is. We have 190 schools in Germany that are named after her. It's a very neutral point of view on the German history. Especially to show the younger generation of Germany what kind of human being she was. What kind of emotion she had and her fantasies. That's why I think Sophie Scholl is so interesting, because she wasn't a born angel but was a human being.
G21: Did you find other people to use for information?
MR: I learned a lot about my grandparents for example. My grandmother was a Nazi too. She was a sports lady so the Nazi's pampered her and sponsored her; her big dream was the Olympic games in 1940. In '36 she was too young. She was a champion in athletics and had a lot of money and a very good life so she always said "Heil Hitler." She was a convinced Nazi by ignoring where the money came from. She wasn't interested in it. she took the profit and the training. In Germany and even in Japan it was common for that generation that there was a huge yes man and follow man. Now they have such a bad conscience that they refuse to talk to their own grandchildren about it. And this the last generation now where I can personally ask eyewitnesses.
G21: Where did you grow up?
MR: In Munich. We shot on original locations. The Palace of Justice is in the center of Munich. All the people from Munich see it once a day. The leaflets are in iron on the sidewalk in front of the university. Everywhere are the signs of devotion to the members of the White Rose. You learn about it in school. That's the reason why I was so touched about this period. They are close and everyone knows it, but you don't know about the education and the biography of these people. If you learn it for months and years, then, of course, it becomes very motivating to find this out.
G21: Was there a concern that you cast someone who looked like Sophie?
MR: It would be an advantage for sure. In Germany you don't have films about Sophie Scholl [they're about the White Rose, the small resistance group she belonged to]. You have famous photos of her, so her age was important; she was in the beginning of her '20s and there should be at least an impression of how Sophie was described, with a strong mind and a tender heart. A sensitive person where if you look in her eyes there would be a lot of energy. The most important thing of course is not how she looks but the actress, the script, the story and potential of the acting. That's number one. Then comes what she looks like.
G21: How did you find Julia?
MR: I had a casting director and they proposed several high level German actresses; they all looked so similar. After four months of casting, in the end though Julia was more of [a] theater actress, she the best.
G21: Did she look like the pictures of Sophie Scholl?
MR: She's so close. If you look at the original photos from the end of the movie, it unbelievably close, almost perfect.
G21: How did you get turned onto this idea?
MR: Two and a half years ago it was the 60th anniversary [of the execution] and there were articles about Sophie Scholl. I read this one line that she spent four days in the Gestapo headquarters. This hit me because I believed that after the arrest they were executed immediately. Then I started researching and found unpublished documents in the archives. Because they went to Moscow and East Germany and, with the unification, where everyone was so busy tearing down the wall that they didn't even check on present documents let alone didn't even go back one generation. That's what I did not know 13 years ago. So when I found out that she spent four days in the Gestapo, I then called the archive to see if I could read it. They said yes. After two days I had the reports about the execution.
I found out on one page that she was lying to them. The story of her life is more exciting than a John Grisham page-turner. She confesses but goes on lying to to try and save the lives of her friends. I was arrested once too and lied. I was fishing in a private ground and said I wasn't involved and there were three guys watching me and there was a light in my face. It was senseless to go on lying because I was full of fish smell. That's one thing, but it tak es a real strength to sit in the Gestapo offices and lie for your own life and your friends. I deeply admire that.
G21: What was the most difficult part in making this film?
MR: That we found so much material from this time. We had eyewitnesses and all these documents. The big challenge was to make an emotional feature film with a great music and steady-cam and a court drama. To make almost a 100% true and yet to make it an emotionally? powerful feature film. So to me there were two moments when Sophie was alone in the room and we had to find our own truths. How did it feel when you have a half an hour to write good-bye letters? Or how do you behave if you just have confessed and you know your life is at stake. How do you get this mental strength to go on lying for your friends? The turning points when she was alone was most difficult.
G21: People are comparing the Bush administration as fascist like Hitler; do you think they're comparable?
MR: You can't compare them because Hitler was killing his own people. I think they compare the people who voted him. I'm also surprised. I've traveled around the world and feel that 95% of the planet feels that all Germans were Nazis and all Nazis were murderers. It's a very superficial view of the German people of this time.
But in this movie you see a resistance fighter. We show four members of the White Rose. Then we have this guy who profits, he's a Nazi and Gestapo man but is not a murderer. Then we have this puppet, a guy who sent 6,000 people to death. And at the end we have a guard in the prison that is surprised with these young people who were fighting for the freedom of words.
I think of what Nelson Mandela said, "The definition of intelligence is Empathy, to feel for weaker people." If you treat the poor like dogs they will act like dogs. What you learn here from this character [Sophie Scholl] is that responsibility of each individual in society is empathy and curiosity. Don't believe what the politicians just tell you.
I read in the New York Times that Bush has the lowest popularity of an American president of all time. He used to have an approval rating of 60 percent. Because they believed him. I think many people in the audience try to get more information about the world. That's the thing, be curious and get information.
G21: What else have you done?
MR: I did five TV dramas and two feature comedies. It's very difficult to get the Germans into German dramas. They prefer comedies. This is my eighth movie and my first feature drama.
G21: Did you want to get away from comedies?
MR: Since I am a director, I do comedy and drama and change all the time. Life is about laughing and crying, light and shadow. Since I am a director, I always do drama then comedy then drama and comedy. That's usual for me.
G21: Are you going to the Oscars?
MR: We are an Oscar submission for Germany and the movie will be released Feb 24th but I don't have the right to hope for something like that because we already won so many prizes and last year's Berlin Film Festival was so great. We try to do as many interviews as possible and [build the awareness of the film] so that as many people possible will go see the movie. If it is nominated then it would be great. Last year "Downfall" was nominated for an Oscar but I'm still looking for the message of "Downfall."
G21: You didn't like "Downfall?"
MR: It was a very important movie that shows Hitler was also a human being.? It also shows how if there are two babies, one can become a Hitler and one can become a Sophie Scholl. To show Hitler as a human being is very important. But I like to have movies with a guy that I can identify with. I don't like many movies with men in uniform. It's a very important movie but I think the message of Sophie Scholl and the performance of Julia Jentsch is more important and more international. So I hope we get a nomination and if we do, it will get us a bigger audience. I fight for every spectator that I can get.
NOTE: "Sophie Scholl" opens 24 February, 2006, in the United States.
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