Rommel

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Niki Stein directs. Corina Dietz cuts. Produced in Austria, France, Germany. Dialogue in German.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Released 14 years ago.
• 2International production across 3 countries: Austria, France, Germany.
• 3Editor Corina Dietz shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 4Ulrich Tukur and Benjamin Sadler and Aglaia Szyszkowitz carry the top of the cast.
• 5IMDB entry: tt2157346 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 6Only 76 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Editing

Corina Dietz

Runtime

120 min · 2h 0m

Status

Released

Original language

DE

Certification (US)

14A

IMDB

Rommel (2012) ↗

Also by

Niki Stein

• 
  Wiedersehen mit einem Fremden

  2010 · ★ 9.0
• 
  Still Movin'

  1997 · ★ 7.5
• 
  Die Frau aus dem Meer

  2008 · ★ 7.2
• 
  Vater Mutter Mörder

  2011 · ★ 7.0
• 
  Louis van Beethoven

  2020 · ★ 6.7
• 
  Strangers

  2001 · ★ 6.4

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Wuchak2021-06-29
  ★ 7/10

  Dialogue-driven account of Rommel’s last seven months in northern France After being promoted to field marshal and being nicknamed the “Desert Fox” in North Africa, Erwin Rommel (Ulrich Tukur) is put in command of the German forces in northern France to defend against the imminent Allied invasion. Meanwhile there’s a plot to assassinate Hitler and negotiate with the Allies since the writing was on the wall. What did Rommel know and not know about this intrigue? Benjamin Sadler (Gen. Speidel), Tim Bergmann (Hofacker) and Johannes Silberschneider (Hitler) are on hand. A German/French/Austrian production, "Rommel" (2012) focuses on the behind-the-scenes events of the German high command mixed with occasional real-life B&W footage. It’s a war drama rather than action flick and is a nice counterbalance to “Saving Private Ryan” (1997), which shows the Allied invasion, and “Valkyrie” (2008), which details Colonel von Stauffenberg’s modified Operation Valkyrie to seize control of Germany from the Nazis. The events shown in “Fury” (2014) occur several months later. While made-for-TV, this is a top-notch production in the same league as “The Longest Day” (1962) and “The Young Lions” (1958), albeit in living color and without the action. It boggles the mind to consider how the filmmakers were able to keep all the details in order to produce such an engaging war drama. I should add that the bulk of the dialogue is in German (or French), so you’ll have to use the subtitles if you don’t know those languages. The film runs 1 hour, 58 minutes, and was shot in France (La Roche Guyon & Audinghen, Pas-de-Calais) and Germany. GRADE: B+

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  BR

  DE

• 

  SWR

  DE

• 

  ORF

  AT

• 

  ARD

  DE

• TE

  teamWorx

  DE

Key crew

• ProducerJürgen Schuster
• ProducerNico Hofmann
• ProducerAriane Krampe
• MusicJacki Engelken
• ProducerSascha Schwingel
• EditorCorina Dietz
• MusicUlrik Spies
• CinematographyArthur W. Ahrweiler

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• nazi
• world war ii
• army general
• rommel

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical2012-12-0614A

Also known as

International titles

• Rommel, le stratège du 3ème ReichFR
• 隆美尔CN
• 隆美爾HK