Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

To correct one thing the first critic said, KOLBERG was released on January 31, 1945. But it's release came to late to increase the morals of the Wehrmacht, because at the end of Janauary things went not so well for the German Army, because the Red Army reached the Oder, some 60 km near Berlin. Furthermore the powers of the Wehrmacht were nearly exhausted, due to the loss of arms and men. So it was clear to see for the most, that we would loose the war, unless the promised Wunderwaffen would not come to action. And that never happened. Nevertheless KOLBERG is an interesting experience. Alt last I'd like to point out HEINRICH GEORGE, who truly was one of our greatest Actors in Theatre and Film ever, in his role of the Bürgermeister of Kolberg. A stunning performance.

Kolberg isn't remotely a good movie, but at the same time it's no worse than 99.9 percent of the tripe that is and has always been made by Hollywood. It's hard to objectively discuss this film because of having to precede any actual comments with obligatory expressions of PC horror. But even more so, the quality of the copy in general circulation is so terrible it is difficult to form a fair opinion of how the film does or does not work as a piece of entertainment and or art. The structure of what I saw is so far beyond episodic as to be virtually incomprehensible at times - and I doubt that a film this professional on other levels could ever originally have been so choppy and unclear. It looks to be very heavily edited, with a meat cleaver, by a blind person. Perhaps it was cut to remove as much material as possible that would make the German cause sympathetic, or perhaps just for length (it is still quite a long movie). The color (in the copy I have) is close to indescribable. In fact, when a friend asked me if I saw it in color, it took me a few minutes to think of a way to answer him. It isn't color and it isn't black and white - but it is hideous and must be far, far removed from what Kolberg originally looked like. It's got a cast of thousands, impressive and beautiful (or so it seems through the dim veil of putrid picture quality that I experienced) locations and sets and some good acting, particularly by the patriarchal male lead. The person who plays the Queen of Prussia is outstandingly beautiful. As to 'horrible' 'terrifying' etc., propaganda, Kolberg is much subtler and less specific than the typical exercise for the moron millions churned out by Hollywood such as Casablanca, or any number of movies in which Errol Flynn or Harrison Ford single-handedly-defeats-the (fill in the blank), etc. I find it rather refreshing to get another perspective, as the old one is wearing quite thin these 60 years after 'freedom' supposedly won, and all that. Kolberg's effectiveness as propaganda (the dark days descending over Germany) is interestingly substantiated in the history of genocidal mass rape and murder of Germany civilians in the wake of the Soviet conquest of just the provinces in which Kolberg is set. That the leading actor - an actor, not a politician - was starved to death in a Soviet (you remember the Soviets - our allies in right vs. wrong, freedom vs. slavery World War II?) concentration camp in 1946 certainly gives a certain air of credence to the pronouncements of the film.

I saw "Kolberg" on French television some time ago. What was most interesting about it was how desperate the propagandizing looked in this film - as if the filmmakers knew that they were on a sinking ship and that time was running out. I don't think the film is as "evil" as other Nazi films but it's only watchable for the historical interest of witnessing the final product, the last gasp, of a dying, militarist, and anti-humanistic culture. It looks like a film shot on borrowed time.Herr Goebbels mentioned that "Kolberg" was an attempt to one-up the Hollywood style and clearly, he's given his director, Veit Harlan, the financial and manpower resources to stage some big scenes. Or, at least, what I think were big scenes. Goebbels, worried that the sight of Prussian troops (the film is set during the Napoleonic wars) getting wounded and killed in battle might demoralize the flagging German spirits - the film was shot in 1944 - and thus cut most action sequences out of the film. You'll get an army charging a hill abruptly cut into a shot of a burning house(whose ignition is never seen) cut again into someone encouraging the dedicated Prussian citizenry to hold fast against the merciless French troops. Cut back to a charging army that never really engages with the enemy. Cut again to panicking villagers. In between these gaps, which become more egregious as the film progresses, you get hamfisted attempts at colorful local humor, an impossibly convulted plot that crosscuts between several German towns to no avail, and an overbearing Valkyrie peasant woman forever spurring her fellow subjects to the Higher Cause (she's the most sexless woman in movie history). Everything in the movie is impossibly crude to the hammer-on-anvil dialouge, to the declarative acting (each actor seems to be wearing his or her own Greek mask while at the same time failing to make any impression whatsoever), to the whole stilted and incoherent pacing of this film.The film is terrible but fascinating, especially given the context of when and where it was made. Goebbels diverted troops from the eastern front for the battle scenes that he subsequently mutiliated. And when one learns that Goebbels considered this the film that would revive the Nazi cause and that it was filmed at the time and near the locations where the Final Solution was shifting into high gear, it leaves you with a strong feeling of disgust for the whole enterprise. Even the subject matter, about Kolberg's citizens futilely defending themselves against a French onslaught, seems out of place. The tale is obviously used to rally support for the flailing German cause but the Kolberg citizenry's efforts were lost (the Prussian army was vanquished) and thus the message of the film is cancelled out. In an even greater historical irony, by the time the film debuted (30 January 1945), the Pomeranian town of Kolberg had been taken over by the Russians and today is a part of Poland."Kolberg" is a unique document showing a well-oiled propaganda machine collapsing in the face of its immanent demise. It achieves the opposite of its intent. The stolid face at the end of the film with the proto-Nazi flag as a backdrop is supposed to convey a sense of determined conviction but there's fear in those eyes.

Some legends rank around this last big budget nazi movie. Well, the battle scenes with more than 180.000 extras, the flood-sequence and the destruction of Kolberg are filmed with some enthusiasm. But as an instrument of propaganda it's not convincing anymore. It seems even director Veit Harlan didn't believe the plot he was ordered to tell (and which is historically wrong). There's a lot of shrill and loud shouting and the typical glorification of Prussian militarism that seems so ridiculous and pervert when you consider what has happened at the same time in real life when the movie was released (30 January 1945). An evil but nevertheless perfectly done picture which was fortunately released too late for maintaining the resistance of German citizens against Allied forces.