By David DiCerto
Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Though talk of the best films of 2006 is premature, when the time comes, "Sophie Scholl: The Final Days" (Zeitgeist) will demand consideration.

Based on the true story of Germany's most famous anti-Nazi heroine, director Marc Rothemund's gripping drama chronicles, as its title suggests, the last six days in the life of Sophie Scholl (Julia Jentsch), a 21-year-old college student executed by the Nazis for treason in 1943.

Our first impression of Sophie, however, is not that of a political subversive, but rather a callow schoolgirl, singing along to the radio with another bobby-soxer, which makes her later heroism all the more remarkable and inspiring.

Hoping to incite a student uprising, Sophie agrees to help her brother Hans (Fabian Hinrichs) -- they are both members of a resistance group known as the "White Rose" -- to distribute anti-war leaflets on campus, an act for which they are promptly arrested.

Based on long-hidden official transcripts of the case, the remainder of the film details Sophie's intense three-day cross examination by Gestapo interrogator Robert Mohr (an understated turn by Alexander Held), the resulting "trial," and her execution. The parallel ordeals of Hans and fellow "conspirator" Christoph Probst (Florian Stetter) are given sketchier treatment.

Given the narratives' heavy reliance on dialogue -- most of the drama unfolds over Mohr's desk or in holding cells -- the film is surprisingly riveting, thanks, in no small part, to the superb performances across the board. Jentsch's composure throughout brilliantly captures Ernest Hemingway's definition of courage as "grace under fire." Sophie's calm resolve comes into starkest relief against the maniacal rants of judge Roland Freisler (Andre Hennicke), who presides over the jackbooted kangaroo court.

Like the protagonists in last year's similarly themed "The Ninth Day" (also from Germany), the exchanges between Sophie and Mohr become a battle of wills, as much as ideologies, as Mohr's atheistic views clash with Sophie's unruffled appeals to "decency, morals and God" and unwavering conviction that "all life is precious."

Despite his own personal atheism, the filmmaker has crafted a deeply spiritual movie, throughout which he shows Sophie, a devout Protestant, praying to God for strength. These interludes -- among the film's most moving moments -- briefly lift the veil of Sophie's calm defiance to reveal a humanizing inner anguish. (Not mentioned is Probst's last-minute Catholic baptism.)

Unvarnished by over-sentimentality, the film is a quietly powerful testament to bravery in the face of evil that examines themes of freedom of conscience and peaceful resistance to tyranny while imparting a strong anti-war message.

Like that of the Rev. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran theologian also executed by the Nazis, Sophie's example reminds us of the cost of true discipleship. And though imprisoned, in the film Sophie is much freer than her captors, who are blinded by soul-incarcerating lies and propaganda. Sophie's choice shows that the truth does indeed set us free.

Subtitles.

The film contains mature thematic elements, including suggested death by guillotine. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-II -- adults and adolescents. Not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America.