FROM HILDE, WITH LOVE: The Quiet Heroism of Nazi Resistance

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When Picturehouse Entertainment asked me to share information about their new film "From Hilde, With Love," I was eager to learn more about this story of courage during one of history's darkest periods. The film, directed by Andreas Dresen, will be released in UK cinemas on 27 June. I haven't seen the movie yet, so this is not a personal recommendation but an introduction to a piece of WWII history that is worthy of attention.

Hans and Hilde Coppi

The Real Story Behind the Film

"From Hilde, With Love" tells the true story of Hilde and Hans Coppi, members of an anti-Nazi resistance group known as the "Red Orchestra" (Die Rote Kapelle). Set in Berlin in 1942, the film follows shy Hilde as she falls in love with Hans and finds her place within this resistance network.

The Red Orchestra wasn't a formal organisation, as the name suggests. The term was coined by the Gestapo, who referred to resistance radio operators as "pianists," their transmitters as "pianos," and their supervisors as "conductors." This disparate network consisted of over 150 Berlin Nazi opponents from various backgrounds - artists, scientists, workers, and students - united by their rejection of National Socialism.

Hilde Coppi (née Rake) was born to a working-class family in Berlin on 30 May 1909. She met Hans Coppi, seven years her junior, through Communist resistance circles. Together, they engaged in acts of defiance that might seem small but required immense courage: distributing anti-Nazi leaflets, posting resistance messages on walls, and perhaps most dangerous of all, listening to Soviet radio broadcasts.

One of their important activities was listening to Moscow Radio for messages from German prisoners of war and forwarding them to their families in Germany. This directly countered Nazi propaganda claiming that Soviet forces didn't take prisoners but killed all German soldiers who surrendered.

In September 1942, the Gestapo arrested the couple. Hans was executed on 22 December 1942. Hilde, who was pregnant at the time of her arrest, gave birth to their son Hans in prison on 27 November 1942. Despite petitions for clemency, Hitler personally refused, and Hilde was beheaded at Plötzensee Prison on 5 August 1943, after being allowed to nurse her baby for several months.

Their son, Hans Coppi Jr., survived and was raised by his paternal grandparents. He went on to become a historian dedicated to researching the Red Orchestra and preserving the memory of German resistance to the Nazi regime.

The Film Adaptation

Director Andreas Dresen, who grew up in East Germany, deliberately avoids portraying the Red Orchestra members as superheroes or making them symbols of any political ideology. Instead, he presents them as ordinary young people with a conscience, making their story more relatable and their bravery more profound.

"From Hilde, With Love" stars Liv Lisa Fries (known from "Babylon Berlin") as Hilde and Johannes Hegemann as Hans. The film alternates between scenes of their summer romance and Hilde's time in prison, creating a powerful contrast between moments of joy and the brutal reality of living under a totalitarian regime.

The film premiered in Competition at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2024 and received strong reviews. Writing in Variety, Catherine Bray praised Fries for her "subtle but layered performance." She highlighted how cinematographer Judith Kaufmann's work effectively contrasts the "sylvan charms" of the resistance group's summer hangouts with the stark prison environment. Bray concluded that although "From Hilde, with Love" is set almost eighty years ago, "the themes explored seem destined to remain eternally urgent and relevant."

Variety's review also touches on a poignant historical detail. Despite the group's efforts and risks, only one of their messages to Moscow ever made it through, and it simply said, "We wish our friends the very best." This underscores the human dimension of their resistance rather than its tactical impact.

Historical Context: The Red Orchestra

The history of the Red Orchestra was misrepresented for decades. During the Cold War, West German narratives often portrayed them as Soviet spies and traitors, while East Germany elevated them to the status of Communist heroes.

In reality, the group was more complex and diverse. While some members had Communist sympathies, others were conservative nationalists, Catholics, or simply individuals opposed to the Nazi regime. Their activities included distributing leaflets, documenting Nazi crimes, helping Jews escape, and, yes, transmitting military intelligence to the Allies.

By 1942, the Gestapo had infiltrated the network, leading to over 120 arrests. More than fifty members were executed, including the Coppis. Despite the ultimate tragic fate of many members, their courage in standing against tyranny reminds us that resistance is possible even in the most dangerous circumstances.

Does This Film Matter Today?

At a time when extremism and authoritarianism are on the rise globally, stories like Hilde and Hans Coppi's remind us of the importance of moral courage and the power of individual conscience. Their story shows that resistance does not always come in dramatic forms, but sometimes in small acts of defiance and quiet integrity.

"From Hilde, With Love" is a historical drama that explores love, resistance, and the strength of the human spirit in the face of oppression.

Sources: Historical information gathered from Wikipedia articles on Hans Coppi, Hilde Coppi, and the Red Orchestra; the German Resistance Memorial Centre website; The History Learning Site; Encyclopedia.com; and various film reviews from Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Reuters.

The Miracle of Dunkirk Retold

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Two Spitfires at Flying Legends 2017

The historical, technical and military inaccuracies aside, Christopher Nolan’s new war movie Dunkirk is worth the price of the ticket. It’s a big movie, beautifully shot on location, that tells the story of the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from three different perspectives: land, sea and air. However, the epic scale of the film, and Chris Nolan’s preference to use real men, ships and planes over CGI wherever possible, often left the screen strangely underpopulated. Operation Dynamo might have been something of a military and logistical miracle, having rescued around 340,000 men between May 26th and June 4th, 1940, instead of the original estimate of just 35,000. Nevertheless, Dunkirk was a major defeat, and no amount of propaganda about the armada of little ships could hide the fact.

Spitfires

Dunkirk features a great cast including Harry Styles, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, Fionn Whitehead and Kenneth Branagh. I think Nolan has to be applauded for his all-Brit and Irish cast. I’m sure the studio’s money, marketing and PR people would have been screaming for a Hollywood A-lister to give the film more box-office appeal across the Atlantic. I think Fionn Whitehead did a very credible job as the central character, and possibly the unluckiest Tommy to put on a uniform. Of course, the real stars of the movie were the three Supermarine Spitfires (two Mk.Ia’s and an Mk.Vb according to Warbird News) and the Hispano Buchon doing a credible job of playing a Messerschmitt Bf 109E. I think I’ve seen all of these planes at shows like Flying Legends in recent years. Duxford’s Bristol Blenheim (the only one still flying) also put in a brief appearance. The movie’s Heinkel He 111 is a large, radio-controlled model.

CGI

To my mind, Chris Nolan missed a trick, not embracing and integrating CGI with live-action and genuine kit for Dunkirk. I think Director Joe Wright did a much better, in fact, an extraordinary job with his continuous, five-minute tracking shot of the Dunkirk beach in Atonement (2007). In this one scene, Wright successfully conveys a much more believable account of the chaos, absurdity and tragedy of the retreat and evacuation. We see masses of dishevelled men, wrecked and burning vehicles, a French officer shooting horses, soldiers singing and playing football while others drink, and above it all, the sky is black with thick, oily smoke. Of course, all the CGI in the world won’t save a badly written, acted and directed piece of nonsense such as Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge (2016). Like just about everything else in the film, the CGI is used with no skill or finesse, so looks fake and totally unbelievable.

Miracle of Dunkirk

Films like Hacksaw Ridge take amazing true stories of courage and sacrifice and turn them into shameful pantomimes. In contrast, Christopher Nolan uses the historical events of May/June 1940 as the stage for a story of courage, hope and redemption. Dunkirk might not be technically or historically quite on the money, and I’m sure Tom Hardy knows you’d be lucky to walk away alive if you really tried to land a Spitfire like that, but then it isn’t a documentary. To me, Chris Nolan’s film is both a question and a reminder. What would we do with our backs against the wall and defeat starring us in the face? Once upon a time, our parents and grandparents faced an implacable enemy, refused to surrender, and turned defeat into victory – maybe then and now that is the miracle of Dunkirk.