Elite bodies: the chilling true story behind the film broadcast on Arte

Elite bodies: the chilling true story behind the film broadcast on Arte



Elite body: a new film to discover on Arte

Unreleased in French cinemas, the film Elite corps was broadcast for the first time on Arte in 2018. Directed by filmmaker Dennis Gansel, it will be shown again this Friday 25 October on the Franco-German channel and on the video on demand site. The opportunity to return to the chilling true story behind this feature film.

The field:

In a military college that trains the elite of the Third Reich, a young boxer, initially enthusiastic, discovers the brutality of the Nazi regime… Educational film and historical testimony, Elite Corps immerses us in the functioning of the educational system and describes the case of conscience of a young man confronted with absolute evil.

The true story behind the film

The movie Elite Corps is inspired National Politics Erziehungsanstalten (NAPOLA), educational institutions created by the Nazi regime to train the political and military elite of the Third Reich. These schools were intended to prepare children to become leaders leader of Nazi Germanysoldiers and state officials, instilling in them the values ​​of National Socialism, such as blind obedience, racial ideology and loyalty to Hitler.

Origin of Napola

NAPOLA, or National political institutes of educationthey were founded in the 1930s during the regime of Adolf Hitler. They welcomed children aged 10 to 18, recruited from the best academic and physical artists in Germany. The selection criteria included not only academic performance, but also racial criteriain accordance with the Aryan ideals promoted by the Nazis.

Young men were trained in a rigorous military framework, with rigorous discipline and intense physical training. The curriculum mixed classical academic teaching and Nazi ideological indoctrination. The focus was on German historyracial studies and the superiority of the Aryan race. Combat sports, such as boxing, were also highly valued because they helped cultivate physical strength and courage.

Napoli goal

Napola’s main objective was to train future leaders of the Nazi regime. These schools functioned as elite factoriesshaping young minds to become disciplined cadres dedicated to the cause of the Third Reich. Children educated in these schools were encouraged to conform to the ideals of Nazi society: aggressiveness, devotion to the state, and rejection of the weak or “undesirables” in Nazi terms.

The ideology taught at Napola also emphasized the supremacy of the German race and the need to fight the “enemies of the nation”, both within and without the borders.

The movie Naples is inspired by this historical reality by following the story of Friedrich Weimer, a talented young boxer who joins one of these schools. Through Friedrich’s eyes, the film explores brutality, manipulation, and moral conflicts faced by young students in such an environment.

The main character quickly realizes the horrors hidden behind the glorious image we try to impose on him. The film highlights the psychological conditioning and intense pressure placed on students to renounce their personal values ​​in favor of the regime’s ideology.

Source: Cine Serie

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