A group of us saw Napola last Thursday at the Valhalla cinema in Glebe, as part of the 2005 German Film Festival. I had not heard anything about this movie, prior to seeing it, but I was pleasantly surprised.
The man that introduced the movie described it as "The Dead Poet's Society" in Nazi Germany, and I'd have to agree. The move is about a teenager (Friedrich) with a gift for boxing, who is asked to join one of the elite schools (the "Napolas"). Here, the students are subjected to Nazism in all its glory, and are slowly but surely indoctrinated into it. Throughout the movie, Friedrich struggles to maintain his 'humanity' (most notably in the boxing scenes, where he has to make the choice to knock out his opponent, already stunned and lying on the floor), and I think it's done very, very well.
It's a great movie, anyway. I'm not sure if it's in cinemas, but I'd highly recommend seeing it.
