Such a frustrating disappointment

Simply Perfect

Fresh and Exciting

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

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.

what ever happened to the electrician? sawyer disguised himself to appear as the utility man and drove out of the gates in his funny little car, but the electrician was never seen or mentioned again!?..did i miss something? also when sawyer was killed it didn't show how his body was removed or where it was found. but the movie it self was an interesting collaboration of fact and Hollywood and it did at points contain some historical accuracies:such as it really was a castle turned into a prison,and it was run by the Germans,and there really was an escape,this is just another attempt by Hollywood to make a story(a love story at that)and hopefully a profit out of a tragic and heroic real life situation

Does anyone do any research for programmes any more? The holes in the production of "Colditz" were too numerous to mention, and the plot too ridiculous to contemplate.The history of Colditz must be so well documented that practically everyone must know that the first Brit to make a home run from the castle was Airey Neave, and he did not escape by way of disguising himself as an electrician and borrowing his three-wheeler. (Such an ingenious impersonation was tried, but the would be escapee was caught and photographed next to the unfortunate tradesman.) To be fair, the feature movie "The Colditz Story" was also at fault here, as it depicted Pat Reid as making the first Brit home run, but it's closing remarks did make an acknowledgement of Neave's achievement.In this latest effort little was made in capturing the flavour of situations and events (or hunger). Even a smattering of truth would have made all the difference, but then the silly love triangle turned the whole thing into a laughable fiasco. I have nothing against the inclusion of romance into such historical series, but here the facts were changed to fit the story. This should never be done but sadly it often is. As for the misguided depictions of mock executions, all surviving Colditz POWs (and indeed guards) seeing this, must be shaking their heads in utter disbelief.The closing credits included a statement that the production was based in part on recent documentaries. I suggest the producers etc. should study them a little closer and talk to survivors, instead of resorting to uninspired artistic licence. I also suggest they should read the many books and websites on the subject. It's not difficult to find the truth if the time is taken to look for ithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airey_Neavehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colditz_Castle

This movie is much like what Pearl Harbour did to Tora, Tora, Tora (the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbour). It's a story with love interwoven among prisoner of wars. If you are looking for a good prison escape war movie, you'd be disappointed as they are loop holes all over. I was attracted by the trailer that said that "an escape from the tightest security prison" And if you are hoping for a full love story, it doesn't make it either. The plot is also shallow. However, the cinematography is excellent. I like the way it was filmed: the scenes in the prison was often in greyish-brownish tones and the military intelligence headquarters in brighter colours. Switching around the locations using this technique kept me interested all the time. The ending could have been better but is rather abrupt. I'd watch it again, if I was someone looking for a love story in war time setting. The trailer shown could be better. And in the opening scenes - a line "an officer and gentleman" was used. It was certainly not what it was meant to be.