Von Werra (2002)

Run Time - 103 min.  |   Countries - United States  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Connor McMadden

Von Werra is an offbeat documentary which, while investigating the life of a historical figure, also explores the fine line between fact and fiction. Franz Von Werra was an aviator from one of Switzerland's most provincial regions, Canton Valais. At the outbreak of the Second World War, he volunteered as a fighter pilot for the Luftwaffe and his exploits made him a darling of the Nazi press. When Von Werra was shot down over England, he managed to pull off a miraculous escape which was later recounted in the British film, The One That Got Away. The actor who played Von Werra, Hardy Kruger, serves as narrator and chief investigator here as he and director Werner Schweizer set out to discover the real man behind the legend, who was reported to have said: "making war was terribly entertaining". With the use of archive footage, written memoirs, and interviews, the lives of Von Werra and Kruger are scrutinized side-by-side as intertwined dramas about the making of history, and the exploiting of it.