The Rommel Myth (2002)

In 2002, Munich born Maurice Philip Remy produced a three-part documentary film, Mythos Rommel ('The Rommel Myth'), for German TV with a book of the same name, chipping away at the Rommel legend dramatically. In the manner of Jeremy Isaacs' award-winning World at War series of 1973, Remy's exhaustive 'Mythos Rommel', later released with with an english-language soundtrack, relies on much pre-war and wartime newsreel footage of Rommel, skillfully weaving in interviews with surviving members of the Field Marshal's staff including Heinz Werner Schmidt; his nurse in North Africa; soldiers who fought for and against him, including Field Marshal Lord Carver; one of Churchill's former secretaries; the unrelated but intriguingly named Italian soldier Mario Rommel and both his grandson and granddaughter Helen and Joseph Pan, and Erwin's son Manfred also are making important contributions. Field Marshall Erwin Rommel was the most famous and celebrated German military commander of the Second World War. He was revered by the Germans, respected by the Allies and nicknamed 'The Desert Fox' for his tactics in the Western Desert - and yet he would die in secret disgrace. Rommel is the most detailed film biography of the German commander ever made. It follows his military career through the Great War to his daring tank assaults during the Blitzkreig of 1940, which brought him to the attention of the Nazi leaders. Goebbels thought him an ideal subject for propaganda, and the German public thrilled to his initial victories in North Africa with the Afrika Korps. However, as the war dragged on, Rommel became ever more tired and disillusioned. The darling of the German newsreels realised that the Nazis could not win the war. Discovering the horrors of the Holocaust, he called his senior command 'tragically filthy'...and started to realise that something had to be done about Adolf Hitler. The story of this fascinating, complex and tormented man is told through original wartime archive film, newsreels and exclusive interviews. Members of his own wartime staff, his son, his driver and veterans from the Afrika Korps and the 8th Army all offer revealing insights into the 'Desert Fox' - and provide a vivid portrait of a man torn between his military values and loyalties and the Nazi regime he served.