The movie’s pacing suffers, with what feels like huge stretches of time devoted to chase scenes as Miller is pursued over beaches, up and down hills, through towns, along piers, and across meadows. The failures of this production boil down to its decision to sacrifice character development in favor of action sequences. Yet somehow, these elements don’t coalesce into an equally enthralling film. The bare bones of the tale are riveting – a Nazi finishing school existing on Britain’s most vulnerable coastline Nazis consorting with English fifth columnists at a the school British intelligence planning to take teenage girls hostage.
#Six minutes to midnight movie#
Six Minutes to Midnight tells a mesmerizing story, but the movie overall falls short of the potential of its plot. With the lives of the students and potentially the security of Great Britain at stake, Miller can’t afford to fail. Knowing that war is imminent, British intelligence wants to prevent the girls from leaving so they can be kept as prisoners – and pawns. Despite his qualms, he is also tasked with discovering the girls’ plans to return to Germany. Thomas Miller (Eddie Izzard) is an intelligence agent determined to uncover links between the school and pro-Nazi supporters in England. The film opens with the suspicious death of the school’s English teacher and the arrival of his replacement. Sent to school to become fluent in English and to be groomed for high society marriages, the German students find themselves caught between personal loyalties and the demands of two nations soon to be at war. But this isn’t any group of girls: these are the daughters and granddaughters of the Nazi high command.īased on a true story, this movie depicts the last days of the Augusta Victoria College, a girls’ school located in Bexhill-on-Sea. The lyrics, pledging to build and defend a holy city in England, are certainly appropriate for the 1939 Sussex setting. But as Trotsky said, you may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.There’s a disconcerting moment in Six Minutes to Midnight when a group of schoolgirls sing William Blake’s anthem “Jerusalem”. She says her school is dedicated to protecting the girls from the outside world. "Why should we criticize a country that strives to be great?" Rocholl asks Miller.
#Six minutes to midnight driver#
Those issues are touched on with the help of different actors: Jim Broadbent's bus driver character briefly brightens the storyline Dench tries to explain that the "Sieg Heil!" salute is just an expression of pride and James D'Arcy has some fun with an implacable detective.
#Six minutes to midnight how to#
The issues of individual, cultural, and national loyalty-and when and how to respond to aggressive actions by other nations-are relegated to the background of some weak chase scenes and plot twists. It's less effective in the run-with-a-gun scenes, as is the acting and the writing, which all fall off sharply in the final third. Intention, impression, and the sometimes-contrasting underlying reality are explored throughout the film. "Appropriate intention makes the appropriate impression," Rocholl tells the girls as they practice balancing books on their heads as they walk, to ensure correct posture. He shows us the girls lined up on the sand, their regimental movements a striking contrast to the natural beauty of the shore and the casual beachgoers from the town. Cinematographer Chris Seager is especially effective with these two moods.
Then there's the real-life history of the school, part of a plan for a "soft power" incursion into Great Britain at a time when the strategy of appeasement and some of England's wealthy and powerful elites were very sympathetic to Hitler. At first, the arrival of the new teacher has a "Jane Eyre" tone, with Miller as a (relatively) naive outsider coming to a dark and foreboding old building filled with secrets.
The movie tells us at least three different stories at once and the spy story is the least interesting. But he shows her he speaks it as well as she does, and she settles down, or seems to. "The Führer would say he isn't man enough," she whispers to a classmate in German, assuming he cannot understand the language. Astrid ( Maria Dragus), arrogant and seen by the other girls as their leader, is quick to dismiss him. Whether that's an adequate answer or whether Rocholl has no alternative, Miller gets the job and is in the classroom moments later. In an interview with Miss Rocholl ( Judi Dench), the only important question is "What sort of Englishman would accept a post teaching Hitler's League of German Girls?" Miller responds, in German, that his father was German. Miller's predecessor was found dead on the beach.
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