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German PoW and hero goalie stars in tale of reconciliation
Film tells how Bert Trautmann, who played in Cup final with broken neck, overcame Nazi past
As a piece of fiction, a film about a former Nazi paratrooper who becomes a hero of English football might struggle to convince audiences. But the true story of Manchester City goalkeeper Bert Trautmann has inspired a major movie that begins shooting this summer.
One of the finest goalkeepers ever, admired for his acrobatic athleticism and agility, Trautmann helped to take his team to victory in the 1956 FA Cup final. He famously continued to play after he broke his neck in the last 17 minutes.
The victory was all the more remarkable because he had overcome deep hostility to his signing by Manchester City in 1949, only four years after the war in which he fought for Germany on the Russian front and in western Europe.
A former Luftwaffe paratrooper, awarded the Iron Cross for bravery before his capture by the British, Trautmann’s arrival at City’s Maine Road home sparked outrage among ex-servicemen and Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany. One demonstration reportedly attracted 20,000 protesters. But he won over supporters and eventually secured a place in English football folklore.
The extraordinary story will be told in Trautmann, a UK-German co-production. Its British producer is Chris Curling, whose films include The Last Station, a drama about Tolstoy starring Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer in Oscar-nominated performances.
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Curling told the Observer that Trautmann is not primarily a sports film.
He said: “For me, it’s much more a personal story about a young guy who got caught up in the Nazi movement and was then fighting on the eastern front. He saw terrible things in the war and was eventually captured by the British. When he entered the PoW camp, he was still following Nazi ideology. But he learned to see a different version of the world. He decided to stay in the UK, fell in love and was very successful on the football field. That interests me as much as the football.”
He added: “It’s a story about reconciliation between people. There was a big campaign against him at Manchester City. So, in the film, we watch a man coming to terms with his past and starting anew … overcoming hostility towards him. These days, that seems particularly relevant as well – how we as British people treat outsiders.”
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...ann-new-film-nazi-past-fa-cup-manchester-city
Film tells how Bert Trautmann, who played in Cup final with broken neck, overcame Nazi past
As a piece of fiction, a film about a former Nazi paratrooper who becomes a hero of English football might struggle to convince audiences. But the true story of Manchester City goalkeeper Bert Trautmann has inspired a major movie that begins shooting this summer.
One of the finest goalkeepers ever, admired for his acrobatic athleticism and agility, Trautmann helped to take his team to victory in the 1956 FA Cup final. He famously continued to play after he broke his neck in the last 17 minutes.
The victory was all the more remarkable because he had overcome deep hostility to his signing by Manchester City in 1949, only four years after the war in which he fought for Germany on the Russian front and in western Europe.
A former Luftwaffe paratrooper, awarded the Iron Cross for bravery before his capture by the British, Trautmann’s arrival at City’s Maine Road home sparked outrage among ex-servicemen and Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany. One demonstration reportedly attracted 20,000 protesters. But he won over supporters and eventually secured a place in English football folklore.
The extraordinary story will be told in Trautmann, a UK-German co-production. Its British producer is Chris Curling, whose films include The Last Station, a drama about Tolstoy starring Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer in Oscar-nominated performances.
...
Curling told the Observer that Trautmann is not primarily a sports film.
He said: “For me, it’s much more a personal story about a young guy who got caught up in the Nazi movement and was then fighting on the eastern front. He saw terrible things in the war and was eventually captured by the British. When he entered the PoW camp, he was still following Nazi ideology. But he learned to see a different version of the world. He decided to stay in the UK, fell in love and was very successful on the football field. That interests me as much as the football.”
He added: “It’s a story about reconciliation between people. There was a big campaign against him at Manchester City. So, in the film, we watch a man coming to terms with his past and starting anew … overcoming hostility towards him. These days, that seems particularly relevant as well – how we as British people treat outsiders.”
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...ann-new-film-nazi-past-fa-cup-manchester-city