The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel
The Desert Fox is indeed the story of Erwin Rommel. The war setting takes place in the early 1940s in North Africa. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was the leader of the Afrika Korps. The very beginning of the movie starts off with a British prisoner who sees Field Marshal Rommel for the first, and last, time. Word had it that Rommel had died later of war-related circumstances, but the British P.O.W. didn’t fully believe what they were being told. He decided to set out and discover what really happened to Erwin Rommel, by asking his son, widowed wife, and doing a substantial amount of research. The rest of the movie was the story line of Rommel’s life and what actually happened to him.
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel had much respect for Hitler in the beginning. It wasn’t until Hitler told him that the Afrika Korps was there to “win or die” that Rommel started questioning his loyalty. The Germans had lost a battle and they were not allowed to retreat. Hitler was trying to kill off the Afrika Korps without saying so in a blunt manner, and Rommel didn’t like the idea that his soldiers were there just to die. Rommel became sick from the air of North Africa so he returned back to a hospital in Germany where his wife, son, and longtime fried Dr. Strolin came to visit. After much thought, Rommel agreed with Dr. Strolin that Hitler needed to die. A plot to assassinate Hitler was agreed on by many head honchos in Germany as well. 
Towards the end of the movie, while meeting with Hitler and several other military personnel, a briefcase with a bomb is planted under the table where Hitler is standing. The man who planted the bomb “had a phone call” (or in obvious terms was told to get out of the room) and hid behind a tree outside. While behind the tree, the room exploded. The plot failed, and Hitler came out alive. Later, Rommel received a phone call from Berlin at home saying they were sending people to him since he couldn’t make it there. He was being charged with treason by Adolf Hitler. Hitler didn’t want it to be known, so he allowed Rommel to have two options. He could either live a short while longer and his wife and son would not be guaranteed their safety, or he could take a pill that will put him out in three minutes and his family will be forever safe. After much arguing, Erwin Rommel decided he would take the pill so his family could be safe. The movie ended with him saying goodbye to his wife, and not telling his son what exactly was going on, and then leaving his home with the Germans who came to take him away.
I really liked this movie!! I think I prefer the old black and while movies over the newer color ones. It seems more realistic, and since this movie was made so soon after World War II it just has a more realistic feel to it. At first I was confused but once the movie started in with the actual story of Erwin Rommel I understood and ended up enjoying all of it. I wouldn’t mind watching it again, actually! I had never seen it before, but for some reason I felt like I had seen the part where the bomb was planted in the room where Hitler was. Have you shown that part in class by any chance? Because it really seems like I have seen the exact scene before! The movie was great, and since it was based off of a real Field Marshal during World War II it made it even better. The movie wasn’t extremely long, which was nice, but it got the point across and didn’t seem like it was just thrown together like some shorter films do. I’m glad I picked to watch it!
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