March of millions (2007)

In 1944 many Germans in Eastern Prussia believed like Lena von Mahlenberg, daughter of a local aristocrat, that Hitler would surrender and spare them from being invaded by the vengeful Russian Red Army. He didn't and they had to flee.

Director:

Kai Wessel

Writer:

Gabriela Sperl

Stars:

Maria Furtwängler, Jean-Yves Berteloot, Tonio Arango

8 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Maria Furtwängler	...	Lena Gräfin von Mahlenberg
Jean-Yves Berteloot	...	Francois Beauvais
Tonio Arango	...	Heinrich Graf von Gernstorff
Gabriela Maria Schmeide	...	Babette
Jürgen Hentsch	...	Berthold Graf von Mahlenberg
Hanns Zischler	...	Rüdiger Graf von Gernstorff
Angela Winkler	...	Sophie Gräfin von Gernstorff
Max von Thun	...	Ferdinand, Graf von Gernstorff
Josef Mattes	...	Fritz
Stella Kunkat	...	Victoria 'Vicky'
Michael Ginsburg	...	Mikolai
Barbara Morawiecz	...	Oma Herta
Marie-Luise Schramm	...	Waltraud
Frédéric Vonhof	...	Louis
Beate Abraham	...	Frau Meister

Storyline

[PART 1] With the Nazi troops forced to retreat on the East front in the summer of1944, terminally ill East Prussian count Berthold von Mahlenberg welcomes on his ancestral castle estate for the first time his granddaughter Victoria 'Vicky', for her sake only curbing his resentment against heiress Lena, who left eight years ago, preferring her bastard over arranged fiance count Heinrich von Gernstorff, whose idealistic brother Ferdinand, now a disillusioned, cynical field officer, her true best friend, is trough with his meddling father Rüdiger and the Third Reich. For lack of a healthy male, Lena starts running the war shortages-affected Mahlenberg estate, dependent on precarious POW and conscripted laborers, using connections maximally, even ultimately agrees to wed Heinrich, but Ferdinand shoots himself at the reception. As the Soviet advance becomes undeniably obvious, Lena and the workers French leader François Beauvais take the farm 'family' in January 1945 on the run to the ...

---

Plot Keywords:

german history | nazi germany | world war two | third reich | evacuation | 

---

Genres:

Drama | History | Thriller | War

---

Did You Know?

Trivia

The drama's first part drew an audience of 11.18 million viewers in Germany, making it the network's most successful movie for the last 10 years.

---

Connections

Referenced in Neues aus der Anstalt: Jahresabschluss-Therapie (2007)

User Reviews

Haven't seen it yet...

But be weary of the only review to-date.

One should be skeptical of any claim that a film fails in that it references the crimes of Germans during WWII. While it is high time to openly talk about the refugees from the eastern territories, the sinking of the Gustloff, the allied air raids, the non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust, and the tragic fates of individual Germans, (etc.), one must do everything to prevent collectivizing Germans as victims or undermining the last 40 years of dealing with the crimes. If Germans of the war generation are victims of anything collectively, it is of their own ignorance and aggression. While German suffering must be brought into official histories and representations of that era, so as to not collectivize Germany as a nation of absolute perpetrators (then and now), we cannot lose sight of the greater picture: the majority of Germans welcomed the rise of the Nazi party and Hitler; very few did anything to resist the regime, even after they were disillusioned by the horrors of war and the crimes of the Nazis; the crimes were silenced immediately after the war, as the average German sought to move on and rebuild. Increasingly since the 1970s, and some argue not adequately until the 1990s, Germans have attempted to come to terms with these immense failures. The price has been de-emphasizing their own suffering. But focusing on the suffering they caused first is not only commendable, but the real reason they have become a leader and example in the international community! (Imagine if our president publicly apologized to the leader of another country for past crimes he/she had no involvement in, and even bowed before him!!) Germans must avoid sentimentalization and reductionism when dealing with such topics. They must maintain a critical distance and account for the greater context of WWII, or they run the risk of oversimplifying, catering to nationalistic and xenophobic entities still present, and/or undermining all they have accomplished in the way of coming to terms with their very complicated past!! If this film manages to incorporate suffering into the greater context of perpetration, all the power to it! Those who criticize it for not being comparable to a sentimental Hollywood war film in which there is a clear distinction between victim and perpetrator/ hero and villain... well, read up on German history and stop and think about your own... The world isn't that simple, why should serious, seemingly historically accurate films be????

Details

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

2 March 2007 (Germany)

Also Known As:

March of Millions

Filming Locations:

Bavaria, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

ARTE, Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), Degeto Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

180 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (2.0)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1