Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

Excellent but underrated film

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

As an avid follower of all things Colditz, I have to admit I shall boycott this number until the end of time. Fine, drop a love story in front of the war, it's been done over and over again, and it works. It is greatly romantic, with all the heart wrenching death and lovers being ripped apart by the German army... I'm making myself sick thinking about it! I am sad that Colditz has been brought into it. I watched a trailer, and heard I think one English accent. It is an abomination of history. Drugs? In Colditz? The Germans letting someone go? It is a stack of poop so high, we are all in peril of being covered if it topples. 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! Don't even get me started on U-571!!

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.

been wanting to see this one for awhile, the previews looked pretty good, was figuring it would be like the great escape, or papillion, wrong, it's more like cold mountain or pearl harbor. now don't get me wrong this is an interesting movie, with great characters, just i think that the previews and the cover on the DVD are misleading,, this is more of a romance than a war movie, you got the lead character appearing before the war with his sweetie,, doesn't ask her to marry him,, big mistake,, he goes of to war , doesn't see her for a long time,, his buddy escapes the pow camp, and promises the other guy that he will look up his girl,, well without giving anything away, i'm sure you can guess what may happen,, there are many attempted escapes in this movie, i didn't feel that the German officers were very authentic in this movie..

Colditz is a castle near Leipzig where during WW II the Nazis held Allied troops who were particularly at risk as escape artists. Many of the men had escaped POW camps prior to their incarceration in the huge castle, and the man in charge of the prison warns every new inmate that the castle is impenetrable: there is no possibility of escaping and those who attempt will be killed.The film begins in London 1939 as men are preparing to leave for the front. Among them is a slightly naive but warmly human lad, Jack Rose (Tom Hardy) who has fallen in love with Lizzie (Sophia Myles), in a sweet, innocent union that represents the concept of 'the love we leave behind'. Jack leaves for duty with fellow soldiers Nicholas McGrade (Damian Lewis) and Tom Willis (Lawrence Fox) and soon they are captured by the Nazis and placed in a POW camp. Of course, being cunning lads, they soon escape only to be captured again and sent to the ominous Colditz - all except Nick. There they bond with men from home such as artist Sawyer (Guy Henry) and from other countries including France and Canada - among them Rhett Barker (Jason Priestly) who is a manipulator able to buy goods from Nazi guards including drugs to which he is addicted.Nick is sent back to London where he meets Lizzie to tell her of Jack's safety. In time the two feel an attraction that proves to have fatal consequences because of Nick's obsession to have Lizzie to himself. Meanwhile the men in Colditz attempt multiple escapes only to be caught each time and put into solitary confinement. The drive to escape is aided by all of the inmates and yet their efforts are thwarted by colleagues turned informers for their own selfish needs. Artist Sawyer does escape and is assigned in London with the Intelligence outfit with Nick: he learns that supposedly Jack has been reported as killed in action (a letter forged by Nick to gain access to Lizzie's emotions) and the remainder of the story concerns the end of the war, the release of the prisoners from Colditz, and the fatal schism between the returning Jack and his rival Nick over the love of Lizzie.Director Stuart Orme manages to keep the pace of this over three hour long film, allowing the viewer to meet and understand and care about a very large cast of characters (writers Richard Cottan and Peter Morgan have created deft personalities). Filmed in London and the Czech Republic the atmosphere is correctly captured and the large cast of characters includes many very fine cameos. If there is a single message to summarize a complex story, it is the old adage 'brothers in arms, rivals in love'. This made for television miniseries is well acted and is another opportunity to see the background stories of World War II. Recommended viewing. Grady Harp