Andreas Hofer – Die Freiheit des Adlers (2002)

After years of oppression under Bavarian rule in Tyrol, the innkeeper and captain of the Passeier Schützen, Andreas Hofer, and Capuchin friar Joachim Haspinger travel to Vienna as a diplomatic delegation representing the Tyroleans to meet the Austrian Archduke John. With all rights in Tyrol having been suspended, they want to ask the Archduke to work for a change for the better. The Habsburg promises to support Tyrol. As a result, Haspinger now wants to wage war against the enemy with all his might. He also persuades Andreas Hofer to go along with his plans, and Hofer eventually launches the uprising against the Bavarians. The occupiers are surprised by the strength of the rebellious Tyrolean peasants. At first, they therefore suffer defeat after defeat. The Tyroleans succeed three times in driving the hated Bavarian and French troops from their land. But when Austria loses the war against France once again, Tyrol is ceded to Bavaria again in October 1809. Faced with this, Hofer wants to surrender. Haspinger, however, objects and puts pressure on him. He tries to convince Hofer that the news of peace is false. Torn by his feelings, Hofer finally decides to continue the fight. The peace treaty once again makes additional troops available to Napoleon I for the war against the Tyroleans. By the end of the year, the Tyrolean uprising is finally crushed in the last Battle of Bergisel. Many of the peasants are killed, villages and farms are destroyed, and famine grips the whole country. Hofer, hiding on an alpine pasture with his loyal follower Kajetan Sweth, is betrayed by his comrade Franz Raffl for a large bounty. Hofer and his family are arrested. Hofer is imprisoned in Mantua and soon afterward sentenced by Napoleon to death by firing squad. The sentence is carried out on February 20, 1810. The firing squad shoots a volley at Hofer. But none of the shots is fatal, so he gets back up and taunts the soldiers about how badly they shoot. He is then executed by the sergeant major with a coup de grâce at close range.