Sophie Scholl: The Final Days

Julia Jentsch is utterly convincing as the anti-Nazi college girl in Marc Rothemund’s meticulous recreation of the White Rose resistance movement at Munich University, through the capture, trial and execution of their ringleaders in 1943. Working from transcripts of interrogations and kangaroo court proceedings, the film offers a realistic depiction of the dialectic of heroism. Youthful idealism stands toe to toe with malevolent fanaticism -- the result is foreordained, but stirring nonetheless. This examination of conscience was as worthy a German nominee for the foreign film Oscar as the winner two years later, The Lives of Others. (2005, dvd, n.) *7* (MC-76 .)