Recap: A young boy, Manfred von Richthofen, interested in aviation grows up to be a young man and joins the newly formed Air Forces in Imperial Germany. Taking rather light on war he quickly rises to be one of the top pilots in the entire war. Soon given command over his own squadron he regards himself and fellow pilots and friends as sportsmen more than soldiers. But after being shot down and hurt once, and losing many of his friends, the weight of war starts to wear heavy on him. But he refuses to give up his position as commander for a more safe spot, as military command wants to protect their icon.

Comments: A fictional account of Richthofen's life that still incorporates many of the important events in his life. Some of them though seem clearly overstated and some almost ignored. And some purely fictional events have inserted for effect.

Even if Richthofen died young it is many years that has to be told in just two hours. So the telling is very much separated in episodes, with time skipped between them. I understand and agree that his is best as it would have been impossible to tell the story in two hours otherwise. However, I don't agree when and what they have cut out. Some very significant parts, i.e. when he is shot down (both times), are not shown at all, only the time with him recuperating. Other parts and fights are shown in splendid detail.

The effects are good and some dogfights impressively done. The main focus is not upon Richthofen's flying, but instead on his camaraderie with his fellow pilots (and foes) and a potential love story with a nurse. The flying seem almost unimportant. Nothing much wrong with that I suppose, especially because it is a film about a war hero made in a country where such can be controversial to say the least. But I guess that many viewers, and in part I count myself among them, as a little disappointed. After all Richthofen was the Red Baron, possibly the most legendary fighter pilot of all time.

Still it was a very interesting movie, especially to check the names of his friends and fellow pilots, many of them real pilots as well, and very sadly many of them killed at a young age too. Even though the movie is mostly well played and has some real epic scenes from battles, perhaps the best scene is right at the end, after the plot has ended and real pictures and stories of the characters are revealed. It is easy to get caught and search for more information on the internet.

In all it was a good historical drama, but it would have been even better with another priority which scenes to cut and which to show. It might have done the character well to show more of his fights, and faults, to give him more depth. Now it seemed a little too shallow, a little too easily dodging the hard issues.

5/10