THE CAPTAIN ***

The story told in "The Captain" really stretches credulity and yet it's true. A young deserter from the German army in the closing days of the War finds a captain's uniform and when he puts it on isn't just mistaken for a captain but becomes, in his own mind, a figure of great power; in fact, he becomes a mass murderer yet amazingly no-one in authority, or even the grunts he comes across, think to question his age. We are told at the end of the film that when he was charged with war crimes he was only 21 years old.

This German made film looks at a shocking event in their recent history and it shows, without apology, the terrible things the Nazis did but, significantly, it doesn't condemn the German people; there are 'good' Germans here, too or rather Germans so sickened with what is happening they rebel in what little way they can. Things happen here that happen in many war films if perhaps in a more surreal fashion but fundamentally the real theme of Robert Schwentke's film is how, once an idea is planted in the mind, it ceases to be an idea and becomes a reality.

Surely there must have been evidence that our young deserter, (Max Hubacher, terrific), was always a monster and putting on the uniform only gave credence to this but more significantly the uniform itself becomes a symbol of power to others. It's like those psychological experiments where simply saying something is fact makes it so, particularly if you have a prop, only in this case it was no experiment but quite possibly the very personification of evil. "The Captain" will chill you to the bone.