Before watching this movie, I’d never heard of Sophie Scholl. She was one of the remarkable young leaders of the White Rose movement, which urged non-violent resistance to the Third Reich in the last years of the war that Germany was now losing.

She was caught distributing leaflets at the University of Munich with her brother, Hans, in February, 1943, jailed, interrogated, tried, and executed by guillotine, all within a few days, unjustly, brutally, swiftly, breathlessly. This 2005 film depicts the heroism and determination of a small band of students and their willingness to put their lives in jeopardy for the sake of their fellow citizens, including the dispossessed, the mentally ill, and the Jewish people still alive within their borders.

What is remarkable about the film is its open and authentic evocation of Sophie’s Protestant faith as the motivation and foundation of her stand. She is a devout Lutheran. Once she is detained and then subjected to the repeated interrogation of the Gestapo, her faith grows and you are enthralled as her voice becomes bolder and bolder. This is faith in context, faith in action. The tone in the movie is neither condescending nor ironical toward Sophie’s faith. Her prayers, her defiance in the face of the demigoguery and madness all about her, is presented organically and natural. It is who she is.

But now I can be condescending and ironical—but not about this movie, or Sophie. I am glad this was not made by Christian auteurs with an evangelical “interest” in the movie. The “witness” in the movie that they surely would aim to exploit would tower above the storytelling in a way that destroys its power. Sophie’s death compels us not to look only at her prayers and last words, but at her whole life, lived in integrity and by principle.

The scriptwriter, Fred Breinersdorfer, and director, Marc Rothemund, clearly stand in awe of Sophie, and well they should. As the movie unfolds and as we get to know Sophie, the true drama is in the Nazi’s perplexity at why this young woman has such deep conviction, and reverence for life. Has she not been well-schooled by the Nazi re-education efforts? Has she not the basic pride of the good German to see all the order and compliance the Fuerher has brought to the Fatherland?

She cannot be diminished by attention to her faith, only further enobled and graced by it. In her defense of herself, her family, her leafleting, she is called upon directly to defend the dignity of all humanity, all life, and does so on the basis that we are made in God’s image. She directly address the courtroom, shaming them, damning them by her stalwart defense of liberty, and life. Her valediction to the court room is chilling: “Where we stand today, you will stand soon.”

I urge you to Netflix this film. I have not given anything away. I have only pointed you to a courageous Christian whose story is compellingly told in thoroughly engrossing terms, simply, poignantly, bracingly. It’s subtitled in English, and Sophie’s words will haunt for you a long time.

Her last words: “How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause. Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go, but what does my death matter, if through us thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?”

 
Posted in Movies by Bruce Edwards

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