Sophie Scholl - The Final Days commemorates a rare episode in Nazi Germany when the still, small voice of conscience rang out loud and clear. It's an authentic, harrowing tale of heroism.
Except for his perplexing, stylized use of massive, sparsely populated architecture, director Marc Rothemund tells Sophie's story unaffectedly and powerfully. He and his screenwriter, Fred Breinersdorfer, deftly reshape the interrogation and trial records of a White Rose resistance member: a 21-year-old woman arrested and executed for distributing anti-Hitler pamphlets on a Munich university campus. She's become an inspirational figure in Germany because of her martyrdom for free speech and political protest.
