Radetzkymarsch (1995)

The film portrays, across three generations of the von Trotta family, both their rise and fall and that of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. The story begins in 1859, when the officer Joseph Trotta saves the life of Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I at the Battle of Solferino. For this, he is ennobled and thereafter lives on in schoolbooks as the “Hero of Solferino.” His ennoblement marks the beginning of the von Trotta family’s rise. Baron Franz von Trotta (Max von Sydow), the “Hero’s” son, has earned respect as a district governor in Moravia and wants his son Carl Joseph (Tilman Günther), the film’s protagonist, to pursue a military career as an officer. Reluctantly, Carl Joseph does so, in order to fulfill his duty to his family and fatherland. Through Carl Joseph, the decline of the Danube Monarchy—and of the von Trotta family—is portrayed in exemplary fashion. The stories of both come to an end with the First World War: the empire collapses, and the young officer von Trotta dies in an insignificant skirmish while trying to fetch water for his thirsty soldiers.