Product: Von Richthofen & Brown (2007)
Rating: 3.0
Believable Myth
What a strange, compelling little movie for anyone familiar with World War I air combat history.No, it's not accurate history:Voss, Goering, and Udet were not in Boelcke's original Jasta. Von Richtofen was still a Lieutenant there, not yet promoted Rittmeister. Boelcke was not a middle-aged Major suffering from male-pattern baldness, but rather a young captain whom John Phillip Law resembles more than the Von Richtofen he portrays. Goering's airplane was white, not black. "Wop" May had not long been in Brown's squadron prior to Von Richtofen's death. Brown never served under Major Hawker. Don Stroud growls and swaggers his way through the film more like a combination of what we know of Edward Mannock and Frank Luke than what is known about Brown.And of course, Brown did not shoot down Von Richtofen.I could go on and on.And yet, there's enough in this movie to demonstrate at least some of the film makers knew the real history:Major Hawker did, in fact, wave to Von Richtofen before he was shot down. Von Richtofen did receive a head wound (though not from a fighter plane). May and Brown did know each other from home in Canada. The British did stage a destructive air attack on Von Richtofen's squadron (though not planned by Brown). Brown did have an ulcer and drank milk (albeit often mixed with brandy). They even knew that Goering wore a flight jacket which was too big at the shoulders.For anyone watching this movie who's familiar with WWI air combat, one gets the distinct impression that the scenario writer was enthralled by the actual war biographies of these early fliers, but some powers-that-be felt need to punch up the drama a bit. The result is 96 minutes of cinematic historical mythology reminiscent of air ace stories which floated around in print during the 1920s and 1930s.Yet within this mythology and absence of accuracy, there is a truth and a reality to this film that puts to shame the romantic fiction, and most WWI air-war movies from "Dawn Patrol" onward. When history buffs like myself read accounts by the pilots who actually fought in that war, we can recognize a veracity in "Von Richtofen And Brown" that is noticeably lacking in say, "The Blue Max".Despite it's being myth, the makers of film created something far more believable than others representing the skies of France in 1917-18, so that much of this fiction can be forgiven. There is little of the cloying hail-my-gentleman-foe, knights-of-the-air dialog in this. The characters largely depict men using then current technology to survive beyond the three week life expectency of WWI aviators.The aerial footage is convincing and well done. For those who've read of the era, there can be a real thrill in seeing for the first time what kind of effect the gaudy colors of the german planes would have had flying in formation -- even if those colors were not accurate for the Flying Circus, and even if the planes were flown in the period after Von Richtofen's death.As anyone who knows the history of Von Richtofen and Brown can attest, there was no need to dollop new mythology upon these two men. Accuracy would have sufficed, and the fiction presented here does not surpass the reality.The irony here is that the only ones who probably would be interested in this film are those of us who know the history. I doubt that giving it to us would have significantly changed either the film's budget or script. Accuracy would have scored points with us; but the lack of it does surprisingly little harm to this as a film.For anyone else, the film would have always been yawn-inducing, regardless of whether it came out as good history or not. There is little romance, little drama to it all. As an Erich Remarque character says in one of his post war novels, "How could anyone experience anything there? It was just war all the time."What a strange, compelling little movie for anyone familiar with World War I air combat history.