If you haven’t grown tired of the latest insurgence of Holocaust-themed cinema (and shows as well) yet, then you must have watched Escape from Germany. The latest entry in the genre is about a group of missionaries making an escape from the country right before the start of the Second World War. It was supposed to be gripping and nail-biting, but the end result is the opposite of that. There’s zero cinematic flair, and the whole thing looks amateurish. What’s even worse is Escape from Germany doesn’t even feel like a film; rather, it comes off as an hour and a half-long commercial for the Mormon church, that too a bad one. It’s hard to take it seriously when they’re saying things like “church out” instead of “get out” in a sentence. Since this is not a review, I wouldn’t be going into the shoddy acting by the cast and uninspiring direction by T. C. Christensen, and I feel really glad about that. Anyway, even though there’s really not much to explain about the ending of Escape from Germany, let’s get on with it.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens in the Movie?
There are two main escape plots going on in the movie, which are interwoven. The main plot has Norm Seibold, aka Elder Seibold (that’s what they’re called, which we learn from this film) trying to take a group of missionaries away from Hitler’s Germany. In the other plot, President Wood, who’s basically Seibold’s superior and tasks him with the rescue mission, is doing the same by himself. He has his own family and a few others with him. Let us take a look at Woods first before going into Seibold.
Why Does President Wood Send Elder Seibold On The Mission?
The story begins in Stuttgart, when President Wood, the German chief of the Mormons, commands Elder Seibold, his subordinate, to gather all the missionaries and take them to Holland, a country that’s free of Hitler’s occupation. The time is late August, and the Nazis are about to invade Poland. Realizing that once that happens, it would be suicidal for the missionaries to stay in Germany, Wood decides to take the escape route. But he’s a man with ideals, and he’s not going to leave anyone behind.
Does Wood and His Family Manage to Escape?
With Seibold already out on his mission, Wood takes his family out and goes on his own journey. A few other missionaries also follow him. Before leaving, Woods helps a female missionary, Ilse, acquire the necessary documents to travel to England. Ilse eventually finds other missionaries on her journey. Woods also bids goodbye to the German missionaries, who are unable to leave their country thanks to Hitler’s rule.
Anyway, the journey is expectedly filled with obstacles where they keep changing trains, and it becomes increasingly difficult with Holland deciding on closing their foreign borders. The next best option is Denmark, and to reach there, Woods & co has to take a ferry from Warnemunde. But reaching there requires a lot of effort, and we see one missionary contemplating stealing the engine of a train. But since they’re missionaries, they’ve got to reconsider the plan and check if it’s morally correct. Anyway, Woods turns out to be a logical man who’s smart enough to sanction the plan and get on the engine. There’s a bit of drama in the end with the German soldier following and even firing at them, but Woods and group successfully manage to catch the boat and sail off to safety.
Does Elder Seibold Successfully Rescue All The Missionaries?
At the start of the film, Elder Seibold meets a new missionary, Elder Anderson, who has just arrived in Germany, all the way from America. I don’t see the point of the character of Anderson in this narrative, but since this claims to be a true story, questioning that is futile. What also baffles me is how strangely the German soldiers are portrayed here. Sure, they’re mean and all that, like what you see in other Holocaust movies, but in Escape from Germany, they all seem to be way too animated. And they’re also not doing much other than creating basic ruckus by throwing missionary books into the fire, like what an official does with Anderson early on in the film.
Anyway, Seibold looks like an action hero from a sci-fi movie here. He’s the de facto hero of this story, and the guy can do no wrong. Seibold’s ways of finding other mormons are quite amusing. He just hops on a bench at the train station and starts whistling something (that only fellow mormons would understand), and very soon, other Elders have gathered around him. Seibold has a slight altercation with a German soldier at a train station. But he coolly demands to see a military police. The soldier, despite being annoyed, complies and takes him to an officer who turns out to be a gem of a human being. The officer understands why Seibold needs to go away from Germany along with his friends and hands him the paper necessary for that. It’s still not easy for the Elders, as the threat of Holland’s border closing due to the tumultuous war situation looms large. But it all gets sorted, and Elder Seibold manages to take everyone to safety. In the final scene, Woods, who’s now in Denmark, is delighted to find Seibold has returned. Seibold receives a hero’s welcome, and for the rest, Escape from Germany decides to rely on end credit. I understand these movies always have the responsibility to let us know about the future of the characters considering the sensitive subject matter they deal with, but this one overdoes it to a point where you are bored to death. It does provide you with a lot of information about the characters, but what are we going to do with that if we haven’t felt anything for anyone? I’m not so sure, but after this movie, there should be a ban on Holocaust cinema if they turn out this bad. It was already a terrible thing for the world. We really don’t need these mid-movies to understand the suffering anymore.
