He claims he got separated from his unit and found the uniform rather quickly afterwards. In reality, Willi Herold was never chased by German troops the way it is depicted in the film.

Anyone Can Die: Nobody is safe in this film, especially not around Herold.In the film, he is played by 49 year old Milan Peschel. Age Lift: The real Freytag was in his twenties when he met Herold.Adaptation Dye-Job: Blond-haired Max Hubacher plays Herold, who had brown hair.See also the documentary The Captain From Nowhere. Inspired from the real story of Willi Herold, nicknamed the Executioner of Emsland, the film depicts his meteoric rise from simple private to all-powerful (albeit fake) captain during the last chaotic days of World War II, and is a chilling meditation on the corrupting influence of power, blind obedience and the influence of the Nazi regime on everyday people. Eager to get out of his worn out, wet clothes, he slips the uniform on and begins a chilling transformation that would end up costing almost two hundred people their lives. As he makes his way across the cold, harsh landscape of the Emsland region in north-western Germany, he makes a startling discovery in an abandoned Wehrmacht vehicle: the pristine uniform of a Luftwaffe Captain.

Willi Herold, a nineteen year old German desertor, is on the run for his life from his Nazi pursuers. Willi Herold trying on his new, fateful personaĭer Hauptmann ( The Captain) is a 2017 historical drama written and produced by Robert Schwentke.Īpril 1945, two weeks before the end of the Second World War.

The captain 2019