Stukas (1941)

Stukas is a 1941 Nazi propaganda film, directed by Karl Ritter and starring Carl Raddatz, which follows three squadrons of Luftwaffe dive-bomber (Stuka) flyers. This movie is a so-called reserved film (Vorbehaltsfilm), whose performance in Germany until today is subject to strict conditions. Viewer discretion for our visitors from Germany is advised (!).

The plot largely alternates between combat and silences in combat, except for two narratives. In one, three of the flyers who have been shot down behind enemy lines make their way back to the German position, finally succeeding after one of them talks a French unit into capitulating. In the other, a shell-shocked flyer whose doctor has prescribed "a profound experience" recovers the will to fight when he hears "Siegfried's Rhine Journey" during a performance of Wagner's Götterdämmerung at the Bayreuth Festival. The film ends with them in flight on their way to attack England.

Like all Ritter's films, it was meticulously prepared using storyboards before shooting. The shooting took place at UFA in Babelsberg and around Berlin between the 18th of November 1940 and mid-February 1941. In order to show the Junkers Ju 87 in as many of its combat applications as possible, documentary footage was included.

Stukas is an example of the Nazi contemporary film (Zeitfilm), a type which Ritter, the scriptwriter and director, largely invented and championed as an answer to Russian revolutionary films. The film Stukas was commissioned by the Luftwaffe and presents participation in war as a joy. The film emphasizes "comradeship and self-sacrifice" and the junior pilots are shown on how to deal with comrades' deaths for the greater good.

Like other Nazi war films, it heavily uses song; in a famous scene at the end, the squadron leader informs his pilots of their new mission against England and its dangers, we then see them seated in their aircraft, and the camera zooms in on their faces and then cuts to the clouds as they sing the "Stukaslied".

This movie is a so-called reserved film (Vorbehaltsfilm), whose performance in Germany until today is subject to strict conditions.
Viewer discretion for our visitors from Germany is advised (!)