North Face (2008)

July 19, 2022

North Face (German title: Nordwand) is a 2008 German historical drama/thriller set during the time period of the pre-WWII Third Reich. And it is excellent.

The film is based on a true story and revolves around two real life mountain troopers (Gebirgsjäger) named Toni Kurz (played by Benno Fürmann) and Andreas Hinterstoisser (Florian Lukas). Kurz and Hinterstoisser are joined in the story by Luise Fellner (Johanna Wokalek), a childhood friend from Berchtesgaden where they all grew up together; Fellner is also the girlfriend of Kurz and had since taken a job as a fledgling journalist/photographer at a Berlin newspaper.

In the movie just as in real life, Kurz and Hinterstoisser are amateur mountain climbers. On their own initiative and not at the behest of the German Army, they decide to take off and attempt to climb the as-yet unconquered North Face of the Eiger Mountain in the Bernese Alps of Switzerland, where other climbers have perished in that attempt. Fellner (and her cynical editor) make the trip from Berlin to Switzerland to cover what the editor hopes to exploit as a Nazi propaganda triumph - if the German climbers can succeed, that is.

I do not want to spoil this for anybody that has not seen it before, so I won't give away anymore of the plot. However, the movie is visually stunning with a great story line and lots of excitement along the way (especially if you have ever done any mountain climbing which I have). Much of the movie was also filmed on location, including what I recognize as the present day Haupteingang of the Bundeswehr Jägerkaserne in Strub (a suburb of Berchtesgaden); it also existed during the Third Reich and the same Lion Monument seen at that point in the film was also present back then, during the Third Reich (see still image from the movie added below showing troops marching across a courtyard, I will add a few others as well). The uniforms have some errors but all of the climbing clothing & equipment is spot on accurate for the time period, plus the acting and the story is outstanding regardless.

As of this writing, North Face is available on YouTube in German language with English subtitles, with limited commercials:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYuXO7fFpJc

Enjoy!