27 February 2006

The White Rose, again

Back in June of 2004, Wikipedia's featured article was on the group of student dissidents in Nazi Germany called The White Rose. It is a very affecting story of idealists hopelessly trying to acheive their ideals, and I was reminded of it a week or so ago when Wikipedia had the anniversary of their trial on the front page. Looking through the current New Yorker, I see that a new movie out of Germany has been made of their story (an earlier one came out in 1982, also German). Netflix, unfortunately, does not have either yet. In the current film, Sophie Scholl is presented as somewhat wavering but ultimately resolute--the writers draw from recently available Gestapo transcripts. Reading "Die Gedanken sind frei," a song forbidden in Nazi Germany, I'm reminded of the upcoming film V for Vendetta. Alan Moore's original graphic novel was strong at times but too uneven. I don't have much hope for the Wachowski's giving it any cinematic justice, but there's always hope.

[ posted by sstrader on 27 February 2006 at 7:22:28 PM in Culture & Society ]