Colditz (TV 2005)

Director:

Stuart Orme

Writers:

Peter Morgan, Richard Cottan

Stars:

Damian Lewis, Sophia Myles, Tom Hardy

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Damian Lewis	...	Nicholas McGrade
Sophia Myles	...	Lizzie Carter
Tom Hardy	...	Jack
Laurence Fox	...	Willis
James Fox	...	Lt. Colonel Fordham
Timothy West	...	Bunny Warren
Jason Priestley	...	Rhett Barker
Guy Henry	...	Sawyer
Robert Whitelock	...	Venning
Scott Handy	...	Mullan
Joseph Beattie	...	Barnes
Luke Neal	...	Hewitt
Juliet Howland	...	Mary
Eve Myles	...	Jill
Rüdiger Vogler	...	Fritz Werner (as Rudiger Vogler)

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

nazi germany | raf officer | escape | prison break | uniform | 

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Taglines:

Brothers In Arms... Rivals In Love

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some violence, language, nudity and drug use

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 March 2005 (UK)

Also Known As:

Escape from Colditz

Filming Locations:

Kutná Hora, Stredoceský, Czech Republic

Company Credits

Production Co:

Granada Television, Power, Powercorp

Technical Specs

Runtime:

240 min 185 min (2 parts)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

At about 32 minutes into part two, Jack is leafing through a German magazine. The photo on the cover was taken about a year later, during the Battle of the Bulge.

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Connections

Features The Girl Was Young (1937)

User Reviews

A dynamical mixture of an escape action drama and a melodramatic love story

I enjoyed watching the two part television series about the Colditz Castle even though I have known better escape movies such as "Papillon" or "The Shawshank Redemption" and even though the melodramatic love and treachery stories were rather predictable and some historical details had not been taken into consideration. There were also some things that I would have liked to see further developed such as the escape at the beginning of the movie, the death of the electrician and the fate of Sawyer but these things are only details.

I think that this movie got too many severe reviews on this side as the actors do some great efforts and the movie succeeds to keep the pace and attention quite high over more than three hours. I liked the fact that the plot spent some time on developing the different characters and the human conflicts which gave a philosophical and moral twist to the movie and treated topics such as desperation, drug abuse, treachery, bribery, love, dreams and freedom. The characters were authentic and diversified. The escape plans were mostly original and quite entertaining and it was good to see that an equal time was spent on the escape story and on the complex love story itself. That's why this movie was rather diversified and mixed action and drama passages with more romantic passages. I think that this dynamical mixture is one of the main factors that carried this good movie on.

In the end, if you like historical movies about the world wars or complex escape stories, you might pretty much like this film even if it is not a highlight of the genre. You will though get a well done and very entertaining movie that will make you think and learn a lot about history and life.