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January 17, 2010
The Red Baron flies again
There hasn't yet been a good film made about the pioneering aviators who fought and died in the skies above the charnel house that was Europe during World War I. Fly Boys was cartoonish, and featured a lame script and undistinguished acting. So the upcoming release of The Red Baron provides another opportunity to (hopefully) get it right.
The trailer features some thrilling aerial sequences, and the actors involved seem quite good. If there's a flaw that's readily apparent, it's that Von Richthofen appears too young; photos of the real man -- and his fellow pilots -- show how quickly the stress of constant combat aged them. I remember studying a couple of snapsots of German ace Oswald Boelcke; it was hard to believe that the young man in the first picture was the same man in the second, a mere year or so later. It's also interesting to note that Boelcke taught the Red Baron to fly.
"Boelcke's Dicta," a series of rules he developed and taught his fellow fliers, were issued to Luftwaffe pilots during World War II, and were adapted and adopted by fliers from many other nations, including former and future enemies, too, continue to be a good starting point for would-be aces.
Boelcke's Dicta 1. Try to secure advantages before attacking.-If possible, try to keep the sun behind you.
2. Always carry through an attack when you have started it.
3. Fire only at close range and only when your opponent is properly in your sights.
4. Always keep your eye on your opponent, and never let yourself be deceived by ruses.
5. In any form of attack it is essential to assail your opponent from behind.
6. If your opponent dives on you, do not try to evade his onslaught, but fly to meet it.
7. When over the enemy's lines, never forget your own line of retreat.
8. Attack on principle in groups of four or six. When the fight breaks up into a series of single combats, take care that several do not go for one opponent.
Aside from the too-youthful mugs of the stars, there's a level of detail in the trailer, an attention to authenticity to the flying sequences, that is quite exciting to aviation enthusiasists and amateur military historians. It also has the added appeal of showing the war from the perspective of our former enemy; to say that Americans, who know next to nothing about the war that killed an entire generation of Europeans, know even less about pre-Nazi Germany, is understating the ignorance.
Yes, I know it's only a movie, but it just might inspire viewers to do a little reading.
World War I has been woefully underrepresented in modern cinema; Der Rote Baron looks like a promising entry in an all-too-thin catalogue of films about The War to End All Wars.
Update
A little on-line research reveals a series of fairly negative reviews, mainly for a rather episodic and hackneyed story, although the lavish production did garner some praise for the production design and aerial combat sequences. Sounds like it'll make for a decent rental. Too bad.
Posted by Mike Lief at January 17, 2010 03:21 PM