Quite a nice study of the Germany military schools where young men were most sheltered from the atrocities of World War II. The central character knows what's happening but instead focuses on a better future than his father had. But, still decisions mus

| Original Score: c+ | Jan 22, 2010

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Oct 21, 2006

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 26, 2006

Gansel is to be commended for finding a way to tell a beautiful story simultaneous with indicting his countrymen for their ugliness.

| Original Score: B+ | May 30, 2006

The plotting is too obvious, too contrived and too convenient.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 28, 2006

Friedrich isn't particularly sharp, but Riemelt's wonderfully nuanced performance gives him intricate layers of feeling.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 14, 2006

Nearly every point made in Before the Fall, be it about militarism or the secret sexual codes of fascism, is made too obviously, or has been made before, in films from Cabaret to Europa, Europa.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 7, 2006

It asks us to sympathize with teenage boys being groomed for National Socialist glory, and for that reason alone, it absorbs.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 24, 2006

... hooks you by focusing on Friedrich's very human story.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 10, 2006

One senses that Gansel took the most egregious stories from his research and stuffed them all into the shapeless script.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 24, 2006

The film is a competent but callow work dealing with a monstrous subject that automatically rejects callowness.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 24, 2006

... the coming-of-age military drama is... the same old drill driven by brutal master race fervor.

| Original Score: C | Feb 23, 2006

It's a promising subject for a film, but Before the Fall examines it in a disappointingly rote way.

| Jan 16, 2006

A fascinating look at a little-known aspect of the Nazi regime.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Jan 12, 2006

The best thing about Gansel's film is it doesn't ask you to absolve anyone; it only tries to make everyone a little more human.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jan 6, 2006

Gansel and his screenwriting partner, Maggie Gansel, bring not a whiff of fresh nor penetrating insight to these subjects.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Nov 18, 2005

A work of exemplary craftsmanship, crisp and forthright yet modulated by subtle nuances, Before the Fall ranks high among the year's films.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Nov 18, 2005

Completely predictable but affecting nonetheless, proof that when movie clichs are presented with rigor and feeling, they can pack a fresh punch.

| Nov 17, 2005

While the background of the story is fascinating and enlightening, the foreground story could be more complex and original. The plot is a good story whose arc is a little overly familiar. Still the production values are high and the story is compelling.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Nov 11, 2005

Unfortunately, the more 'realistic' the film seems, the less pleasant it is to watch.

| Oct 29, 2005