A look at how a German POW and a young English woman overcame prejudice, personal tragedy and public hostility as World War II came to an end.
The premise of a Nazi/English romance immediately post-World War II, thanks to a stint as a goalkeeper, it sounds like something that would be considered outright offensive in this modern day and age. In a world that is eager to be triggered in order to fly that social justice warrior flag, the film seems like a peculiar choice in narrative. That is, of course, because I am not a sports lover, and to that end, it didn't cross my mind until quite far through the film that this was actually based on a true story.
It makes The Keeper an interesting mix of genres. A period biopic, the film is initially framed as a post-war film turned to romance, which in turn transitions into a dramatic underdog sporting film, before becoming a tragedy. 'Framing' is the important choice of word there, as it becomes abundantly clear that certain aspects of our lead character's life have been omitted to fit into the more traditional, formulaic romantic drama tropes.
To an extent, the absences of certain aspects are understandable. The entire film relies on building empathy and sympathy with a Nazi paratrooper who participated in World War II for a full four years being promoted and receiving medals for his achievements in the German military. As such, the war element of the film is cannibalised and stripped back to two scenes (one of which is a recurring PTSD-induced flashback).
To the credit of the screenplay writers and director, The Keeper is a well-scripted story. Through the use of warm lighting and some great onscreen chemistry between David Kross and Freya Mavor, the audience is drawn right into this scintillating romantic drama. The character of David Kross' Bert Trautmann is well-balanced, allowing him to be a very sympathetic character. There are, of course, many aspects of his life that many would deem significant in a negative perspective, but the film would need to be much longer to balance it out in order to keep that sympathy. At 120 minutes, the runtime of the film is already on the long end.
To a certain extent, one could easily consider the 120-minute runtime to be more than necessary. The 90-minute length of a football game would have been a great length for the film as it loses its narrative direction in the third act (coincidentally, the point in which I realised that the film was in fact based on true events). In a peculiar choice, the film is unable to decide on what the main arc of the film is, constantly switching focus between the family life of Trautmann, and how his football career taught the English how to forgive.
The theme of forgiveness is really the most engaging aspect of the film. Whether a group of people can forgive someone who was a member of an opposing group mere moments ago. Though the film begins with the most extreme example of whether we can forgive a member for potential war atrocities of an enemy state for the sake of winning a sporting game because that is no doubt that Trautmann's loyalties and merits were still unknown at that point.
The general idea of judging a man on his own merits is an important one, especially when it comes to war because the vast majority of civilians believe they are doing the right thing enlisting in the army. there is no government that will outright say that they are the bad guys. Everyone that fights in war believes they are on the right side at the beginning. And how people reconcile that afterwards is a brilliant dramatic story.
David Kross gives a compelling performance at Trautmann with a good balance of arrogance and homely charm, while Freya Mavor does brilliantly as the headstrong, yet rational Margaret. Their chemistry is palpable and--while all-the-while predictable--is a pleasure to watch.
The Keeper does have some pretty on-the-nose dialogue and exposition at times, but there is quite an amazing story to see, and it is engaging enough to look past its flaws. Ultimately the structure could have been streamlined further, as it lost a lot of steam after peaking in the second act, and the story didn't know when or how to end it. The tragedies certainly do help to ensure the film stays grounded in reality, but it does confuse the narrative direction.
An unexpectedly heartwarming film, that showcases the resilience of Bert Trautmann, the Nazi that helped fix Anglo-German relation.