THE KEEPER
***
Director: Marcus H. Rosenmüller
Screenwriter: Marcus H. Rosenmüller and Nicholas J. Schofield
Principal cast:
David Kross
Freya Mavor
John Henshaw
Harry Melling
Chloe Harris
Michael Socha
Country: UK/Germany
Classification: M
Runtime: 120 mins.
Australian release date: 25 July 2019
Previewed at: Chauvel Cinema, Sydney, on 25 July 2019.
Marcus H. Rosenmüller’s The Keeper shines a light on the story of one of English football (soccer, that is) team Manchester City’s finest goalkeepers, Berndt Trautmann (David Kross), from the last days of World War II up to the mid-1950s. The fact that ‘Bert’ was a German POW incarcerated on British soil who ended up staying in Blighty after the war makes for an interesting bio-pic, even it’s a little coy about revealing the full facts of Trautmann’s life - not unlike the man himself.
One day, when village grocer Jack Friar (John Henshaw), accompanied by his adult daughter Margaret (Freya Mavor), is making a delivery to the nearby POW camp he notices one of the prisoners expertly defending goal during a match between inmates. It turns out that Jack is also the manager of the local St. Helens Town football team and he convinces the reluctant camp CO, Sergeant Smythe (Harry Melling), to let him ‘borrow’ Trautmann, ostensibly to assist him at his grocery store but really because he wants him to play goalie in the team. Naturally, when the other members learn that he is a German POW, there is great resistance to having him play but his incredible skills soon win them over. Simultaneously, while staying with the Friar family he has also won over Margaret, who initially regarded him as a ‘Nazi’ but has started to develop feelings for him. Before long, Trautmann is spotted by the manager of Man City Football Club, Jock Thomson (Gary Lewis), and he’s soon signed up for the career of a lifetime as the team’s goalkeeper. Once again, though, he has to stare down people’s antipathy because memories of German bombing raids are still fresh and news of Nazi wartime atrocities are emerging. Not unexpectedly, these feelings are particularly strong in Manchester’s large Jewish community. The Keeper details the subsequent difficulties faced by Bert and Margaret in the early stages of their relationship, until she begins to understand that Bert is a decent man who, like many young men from all sides, signed up to fight for their countries having no idea that events would escalate as they did.
There are many thrilling moments as we follow Trautmann’s glittering career through its ups and downs, and some of those downs were not inconsiderable. The production values are authentic, evoking post-war England in all its austerity and subsequent drabness. There are also a couple of lively dance scenes featuring the ‘swing’ music of the day, because dancing was an easy way for people to forget their sorrows for a few hours. The major characters develop as the tension increases and Kross, in particular, (who’ll be seen again soon in the forthcoming Balloon) gives a convincing performance as a man tortured by his past memories and yet managing to create a new life for himself. Mavor is good too, as the young woman who learns to let her heart rule her head. All the supporting roles, featuring some well-known character actors (e.g. Henshaw, Lewis and Dervla Kirwan as Margaret’s mum), are spot-on. Rosenmüller’s direction is unfussy and unassuming, letting the script unveil the story in a chronological fashion.
The Keeper is a film that covers an unusual, true-life situation in which a couple in a loving relationship face outrage, prejudice and tragedy, yet survive against all the odds. It could be billed as a love story as much as the tale of an extraordinarily skilled sportsman caught up in extraordinary circumstances.
Screenwriter: Marcus H. Rosenmüller and Nicholas J. Schofield
Principal cast:
David Kross
Freya Mavor
John Henshaw
Harry Melling
Chloe Harris
Michael Socha
Country: UK/Germany
Classification: M
Runtime: 120 mins.
Australian release date: 25 July 2019
Previewed at: Chauvel Cinema, Sydney, on 25 July 2019.
Marcus H. Rosenmüller’s The Keeper shines a light on the story of one of English football (soccer, that is) team Manchester City’s finest goalkeepers, Berndt Trautmann (David Kross), from the last days of World War II up to the mid-1950s. The fact that ‘Bert’ was a German POW incarcerated on British soil who ended up staying in Blighty after the war makes for an interesting bio-pic, even it’s a little coy about revealing the full facts of Trautmann’s life - not unlike the man himself.
One day, when village grocer Jack Friar (John Henshaw), accompanied by his adult daughter Margaret (Freya Mavor), is making a delivery to the nearby POW camp he notices one of the prisoners expertly defending goal during a match between inmates. It turns out that Jack is also the manager of the local St. Helens Town football team and he convinces the reluctant camp CO, Sergeant Smythe (Harry Melling), to let him ‘borrow’ Trautmann, ostensibly to assist him at his grocery store but really because he wants him to play goalie in the team. Naturally, when the other members learn that he is a German POW, there is great resistance to having him play but his incredible skills soon win them over. Simultaneously, while staying with the Friar family he has also won over Margaret, who initially regarded him as a ‘Nazi’ but has started to develop feelings for him. Before long, Trautmann is spotted by the manager of Man City Football Club, Jock Thomson (Gary Lewis), and he’s soon signed up for the career of a lifetime as the team’s goalkeeper. Once again, though, he has to stare down people’s antipathy because memories of German bombing raids are still fresh and news of Nazi wartime atrocities are emerging. Not unexpectedly, these feelings are particularly strong in Manchester’s large Jewish community. The Keeper details the subsequent difficulties faced by Bert and Margaret in the early stages of their relationship, until she begins to understand that Bert is a decent man who, like many young men from all sides, signed up to fight for their countries having no idea that events would escalate as they did.
There are many thrilling moments as we follow Trautmann’s glittering career through its ups and downs, and some of those downs were not inconsiderable. The production values are authentic, evoking post-war England in all its austerity and subsequent drabness. There are also a couple of lively dance scenes featuring the ‘swing’ music of the day, because dancing was an easy way for people to forget their sorrows for a few hours. The major characters develop as the tension increases and Kross, in particular, (who’ll be seen again soon in the forthcoming Balloon) gives a convincing performance as a man tortured by his past memories and yet managing to create a new life for himself. Mavor is good too, as the young woman who learns to let her heart rule her head. All the supporting roles, featuring some well-known character actors (e.g. Henshaw, Lewis and Dervla Kirwan as Margaret’s mum), are spot-on. Rosenmüller’s direction is unfussy and unassuming, letting the script unveil the story in a chronological fashion.
The Keeper is a film that covers an unusual, true-life situation in which a couple in a loving relationship face outrage, prejudice and tragedy, yet survive against all the odds. It could be billed as a love story as much as the tale of an extraordinarily skilled sportsman caught up in extraordinary circumstances.