Based on Gestapo transcripts, this remarkable film relates the last five days in the life of Nazi resister, Sophie Scholl. She was part of a small group, led by her brother and inspired by her father, that sought to alert Germans to insidious activities of the Nazi regime. Scholl and her brother were found distributing leaflets at university, a reckless and treasonable action that could leat to a death sentence.

With Jentsch (The Edukators) in a career-defining role, Sophie Scholl plays like a court-room drama without a court. A robust score ratchets up tension and lifts these initial scenes from historical drama to historical thriller. When the pair are split and a cross-examination begins, electric performances light up the screen in a scorching display of defiance. Scholl was a tough campaigner and not about to let herself, or her brother, be taken prisoner by the enemy. What follows is a gripping struggle of ideology and philosophy as Scholl and her interrogator play a startling game of wits.

Although things slip a gear as the film powers down to Judge Friesler’s vitriolic denouncement, there’s an intense freshness to the production that helps it stand tall among the exhaustive cannon of war films. Sophie Scholl collected a deserved Oscar nomination among a raft of another awards, and its lessons are not confined to the annals of history as it serves a timely reminder about personal responsibility in an increasingly polarised and hostile world.

// COLIN FRASER