Colditz (2005)

Please don't spend money on this.

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

I've already watched some 2 hours of this incredible flop! I'll go through it to see to what an extent the two script writers have gone.Have they ever read a single line of the many books about Colditz and in particular Pat Reid's. Probably not.Their sole interest in this movie is to show a love story and all the rest is just for the fun and accessory. The skills of all those prisoners, the friendship which developed between 6 or 7 nations united in the same hardships is second in line in the story.This movie is an insult to the memory of so many young chaps who suffered for days in that awful prison."Biscuitcharley" has written in his review in 2012 "It may have been filmed in the Czech and England, but it is an American production, and yet again, they have demonstrated their ability to rewrite history to fulfill their own greedy, empty past. Thanks again Hollywood, for making me sick to my stomach and aching for you not to destroy history, again!".I totally adhere to his analysis. What would say Americans if we Europeans dared to rewrite the Civil war period? They should really be ashamed of themselves. No words can express my disgust before such a production!

I enjoyed watching the two part television series about the Colditz Castle even though I have known better escape movies such as "Papillon" or "The Shawshank Redemption" and even though the melodramatic love and treachery stories were rather predictable and some historical details had not been taken into consideration. There were also some things that I would have liked to see further developed such as the escape at the beginning of the movie, the death of the electrician and the fate of Sawyer but these things are only details.I think that this movie got too many severe reviews on this side as the actors do some great efforts and the movie succeeds to keep the pace and attention quite high over more than three hours. I liked the fact that the plot spent some time on developing the different characters and the human conflicts which gave a philosophical and moral twist to the movie and treated topics such as desperation, drug abuse, treachery, bribery, love, dreams and freedom. The characters were authentic and diversified. The escape plans were mostly original and quite entertaining and it was good to see that an equal time was spent on the escape story and on the complex love story itself. That's why this movie was rather diversified and mixed action and drama passages with more romantic passages. I think that this dynamical mixture is one of the main factors that carried this good movie on.In the end, if you like historical movies about the world wars or complex escape stories, you might pretty much like this film even if it is not a highlight of the genre. You will though get a well done and very entertaining movie that will make you think and learn a lot about history and life.

Some of this movie is based on fact (in spite of what some others have said in their reviews, there was 'some' effort put into researching historical facts for this movie - there are of course historical inaccuracies).The smashing of records did actually happen (unlike the mini-series, in real life it wasn't a map in it, it was German money and Identification cards) as recorded in Pat Reid's book 'Colditz: The Colditz Story' (Pat Reid was the escape officer at Colditz and successfully escaped himself). According to the book, one POW tripped smashing a record that contained the money and identification cards and then the POW's smashed the rest only to find it was the only one.The TV series (1972-74) was largely based on Pat Reid's book and he was a consultant on the TV Series. He died in 1990 so wasn't available for this movie (and might even be rolling in his grave a little).The mini-series is loosely based on the book by Henry Chancellor 'Colditz: The Definitive History'. This mini-series however is only half about what happens inside Colditz and it's escapes. The other half is a story of a love triangle. The main problem with this, is it is an old story that's been told a thousand times before. (ie guy falls for his friends girl and moves in on her whilst his friend is away).Those after a nice gritty escape from Colditz castle saga are better off watching the TV Series from the 70's which is much more historically accurate and doesn't have the cheesy love triangle story in it (it does have a back story for David McCullum's character involving his young wife whom he very dearly misses and wants to get back to - scenes involving her back in the UK break up the grittiness of the rest of the series a little to stop it (the grittiness) becoming over whelming).The cheesy love triangle story and the 'looseness' around the historical accuracy is what I think ruins it for most viewers (though, from reading the other comments most don't seem to know what is and isn't historically true). Oh, regarding the escape of Sawyer in this mini- series that someone questioned. There was an attempt by an escapee to get out as a tradesman in real life. The escapee was caught and the Germans took photos of the escapee and the tradesman so they could tell them apart.The good points to this is that it was well acted, well directed, the locations (though in the Czech republic and NOT Germany) were good and the cinematography etc was well done. Damien Lewis in particular was very good. This makes it enjoyable as a movie provided you 1. can handle the love triangle (where the worst story line is but some of the best acting is), and 2. can excuse the historic inaccuracies in the movie (provided you actually know what is and what isn't). The movie never claimed to be 'historically accurate' in its defense.

Thrilling wartime heroics take a back seat to a lackluster romance in "Puppet Masters" director Stuart Orme's atmospheric but disappointing British P.O.W. escape saga "Colditz." During World War II, the Third Reich rounded up all the worst Allied escape artists from prisoner-of-war camps and cornered them in an ancient castle. Although quite a bit of the action takes place in Germany with P.O.W.s struggling to get out of Colditz, the bulk of the action transpires in England. Murderous Irish soldier Corporal Nicholas McGrade (Damian Lewis of "Band of Brothers) escapes from Colditz and makes it back to London where his superior, Lt. Colonel Jimmy Fordham (James Fox of "Performance"), congratulates on his good luck and promotes him to lieutenant. Naturally, this upstart Irish decides to take revenge on a fellow prisoner, Second Lieutenant Jack Rose (Tom Hardy of "Black Hawk Down"), and tells Rose's girl, Lizzie Carter (Sophie Myles of the "Underworld" movies), that Jack is dead. Smug Nicholas eventually persuades reluctant Lizzie to share his bed. Things go awry when another Colditz prisoner, Captain Sawyer (Guy Henry of "V for Vendetta"), escapes and suspects that McGrade has lied to Lizzie and told her that her boyfriend Jack was shot while trying to escape.The best scene in this dreary World War II romance thriller occurs when three escape happy Brits plunge into the sewer system to squirm out of Colditz. Otherwise, "Colditz" is barely worth watching for its lengthy three hour running time. The Germans are portrayed as thugs without any individuality. Jason Priestly is truly unsavory as Flying Officer Rhett Barker who scourges things for his companions to make their escape. The most pathetic character is Captain Willis (Laurence Fox of "The Last Drop" where he played an SS officer) who repeatedly tries to escape but never succeeds. His last demoralizing act of escape is valiant but futile.It's easy to tell that "Colditz" is a post-World War II war movie. The Allies spend more time fighting each other than they do the Nazis. If you want to see a crackerjack World War II escape movie, check out John Sturges' "The Great Escape" with Steve McQueen. James Bond director Guy Hamilton had better like with Colditz in his own version "The Colditz Story." You'd think that the people at Granada who produced "Colditz" should have known better than to spoil a vintage World War II tale with a forgettable soap opera love triangle. Furthermore, the DVD presentation of this saga lacks not only English language subtitles but also closed captioning. Most of the dialogue is virtually muffled and you have to rewind scenes to understand what the leads are staying to each other. Finally, none of the protagonists are remotely sympathetic. Instead, everybody is selfish and egotistical, not exactly the kind of heroes that you want to root for.