The harder they fall

If you want to succeed at world domination you've got to train your people, and what better place to start than with the young?
That's exactly what Hitler did when he set up his National-Political Institutes of Learning, or "Napolas." Imagine boarding schools from hell and you've got the picture.
The focus of "Before The Fall" is small-town boy Friedrich Weimer, who excels at boxing. His friends are excited for him, and perhaps a little envious, when he gets approached by a Napola recruiter after a match. But when Friedrich gets home to tell his family the news, his father, no fan of Hitler, says absolutely not. Friedrich doesn't understand the ideology behind the schools. All Friedrich knows is that he doesn't want to work in a factory all his life or continue to have to bathe in the same dirty tub as his father and brother. For Friedrich, it's a way out.
And so he forges his father's signature and heads off in the night to what he thinks will be a brighter future.
In some ways, it is – at first. Friedrich is handsome and well liked by most of the folks at the school. He gets special coaching for his boxing abilities and assurances that he will go far – perhaps even to the Olympics.
But it soon becomes clear to Friedrich that this is no free ride. The students are trained to be soldiers and athletes and their training is ruthless. Friedrich does well because he is athletically gifted, but weaker students are not so lucky. Some, like the bed-wetting Siegfried, are ridiculed, beaten or worse.
After a tragic accident during a training exercise with live grenades, Friedrich begins to see that joining the school may have been a mistake. But by then it is far too late. It is not long before the group of students Friedrich belongs to is sent out into the woods with live ammunition to hunt down and kill escaped "prisoners of war." The boys shoot to kill, only to find their victims are unarmed Jewish youth.
Though Friedrich is being taught to fight and kill with no mercy, his friendship with the sensitive Albrecht keeps him grounded in his humanity.
Albrecht is hardly a star Napola student, but he manages to advance regardless as his father is the local Governor. It is Albrecht's father, in fact, that sends the boys out to shoot the escaped prisoners.
Albrecht's father despises his son but quickly takes to Friedrich. When Albrecht brings Friedrich with him for a trip home to celebrate his father's birthday, the governor pits the boys against each other in a boxing match for the amusement of the party's guests. There is no doubt in anyone's mind who will win.
Where Friedrich is muscular and stocky, Albrecht is lithe and wan. Where Friedrich prefers boxing gloves, Albrecht prefers poetry. Despite their differences, the boys form a close bond that even the Nazi's indoctrination cannot break.
When Albrecht's father makes the decision to send him into battle, Albrecht decides to defy his father one last time, the only way he knows how.
"Before the Fall" is a powerful and beautifully shot picture. Through the relationship between Albrecht and Friedrich we see the students in the Napola as they are: children. For these kids, humanity was a liability and the ones who managed to discard it like a blood soaked jacket were the ones who had it easiest. The others had to look evil, their own included, in the eye, bracing for the impact.