"Die weiße Rose" or "The White Rose" is a West German 2-hour movie from 1982, so this one will have its 35th anniversary next year. It is one of the most known works by writer and director Michael Verhoeven and actress Lena Stolze and they continues their successful collaboration a couple years later in the Oscar-nominated "The Nasty Girl". Both films have to do with Nazi Germany and everybody with a little interest in German history will know that the "Weiße Rose" was an organisation made up by students who offered resistance to Hitler during the years of Nazi Germany. Their arms were works. They distributed sheets of paper with anti-Nazi propaganda. The movie is based on real characters and real events, which is probably the main reason why you may want to see it. Unfortunately, I must say that I have seen other films on the subject and they were a better watch in my opinion. This includes the more recent, fairly famous Julia Jentsch movie and also a pretty unknown 40-year-old film named "Everyone Dies Alone" starring Hildgard Knew about a different resistance group, who eventually faced the same fate though. But back to this one here. It offers good writing and also some moral questions, for example a professor asking the students if they are doing the right thing and if they instead should maybe try to change Germany after the Nazi reign. I also liked the film that it worked nicely in terms of depicting us how Nazis were so strongly against freedom of opinion. I never had the impression that the group was doing something really bad or dangerous, but their fates in the end teach us differently. Sadly, Stolze did not really stand out that much. Still she had her moments and the scenes in the weapons manufacturing company in terms of quiet resistance were the best the film had to offer. What I did not like was the runtime. Maybe they included too many characters, but I think they definitely included a couple insignificant scenes that do not add too much to the film and I believe it should have been 105 minutes long instead, without some of the less relevant stuff. Nonetheless, overall, it is an extremely important subject and chapter of German history and I always like it to see stuff like this depicted in film. Certainly worth watching.

What I like most about this film is its sobriety, dispassion and sophistication in tackling the topic. There's no idealisation of the resistance group. It is based on precisely researched historical facts which successfully moves over clichés and false glorifications. Director Michael Verhoeven makes clear, that Sophie and Hans Scholl were neither longing for death nor wanted to set a beacon by giving themselves in custody. As incredibly brave and encouraged they were, they wanted to live most of all. The film also prompts questions of resistance fighters in a terror regime: Is there a right to resist against the majority of people? Is violence justified? Is it allowed to carry on sabotage which threatens the population? Is it allowed to wish a defeat for the own country? Is it worth anything to risk one's own life?

In 1943, in Munich, the student Sophie Magdalena Scholl (Lena Stolze) finds that her brother Hans Scholl (Wulf Kessler) has formed the resistance group The White Rose with three other friends of the University of Munich and they are distributing anti-Nazi pamphlets to other students and wall writing political statements against Hitler. Sophie decides to join the group and is assigned in principle to small tasks.

Meanwhile the Gestapo is investigating and hunting down the group. While distributing pamphlets in the University of Munich, Hans and Sophie are arrested by the Gestapo that also finds Christoph Probst (Werner Stocker). They are sentenced to death and beheaded in the guillotine.

"Die Weiße Rose" is a wonderful film of idealism and courage during World War II and based on a true story. I saw this film for the first time in the 80's and after watching "Sophie Scholl - Die Letzten Tage", I have decided to see it again on my rare VHS.

"Die Weiße Rose" shows the big picture about the resistance group "The White Rose" and "Sophie Scholl - Die Letzten Tage" is a dramatization of the last days of Sophie. The story about a German resistance group against the atrocity of Hitler and the Nazi is unusual and both films have many scenes in common and practically complete each other. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Rosa Branca" ("The White Rose")