'SCHOLL' A STARK LOOK AT NAZISM.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

EVERY DECADE or so, a German filmmaker retells the story of the White Rose, a group of young Bavarians who resisted the Nazi state, and paid with their lives, at the height of World War II.

It's easy to understand why. The White Rose combined opposition to Hitler with youthful idealism and, inevitably, martyrdom. It provided proof to a condemning postwar world that there indeed were good Germans willing to die in the name of righteousness. And even though most of the organization's males were also (however reluctant) members of the Wehrmacht, it also had one, pure Joan of Arc figure around whom worshipful legend could subsequently be built.

Germany's Oscar contender ``Sophie Scholl - The Final Days'' recounts the last six days of her life almost entirely from the 21-year-old student's perspective. It also manages the neat trick of both humanizing the figure like never before and embellishing her mythic stature in the process. Armed with recently released transcripts of Scholl's Gestapo interrogation, director Marc Rothemund and screenwriter Fred Breinersdorfer present a sober, straightforward account of Scholl's arrest, brief imprisonment and kangaroo court trial.

This enables them to add valuable information to the filmed historical record, while also offering persuasive insights into the religious young woman's faith, fears and survival strategies. Scholl proves to have been a pretty good liar, almost talking her way out of custody until the preponderance of evidence forces her to acknowledge underground affiliations.

None of this, however, makes for a very gripping movie. Once the film's main action - Sophie (Julia Jenstsch) and her brother Hans' (Fabian Hinrichs) distribution of anti-war fliers on the University of Munich campus in the winter of 1943 - is completed and they're instantly caught, dramatic tension nose dives.

What follows feels more educational than intriguing. There's the cat-and- mouse game with interrogator Robert Mohr (Alexander Held, doing his part to put a human face on the police state and, as a result, coming off as neither very threatening nor formidable); Sophie's apprehension about the trial that she knows will be orchestrated to condemn her; the prayers and conviction that she's on God's side, which comfort her; and, of course, the stacked tribunal itself. Its fascist perversions of justice are only a surprise if it's news to you that Nazis could be as hysterically pompous as they were pathologically evil.

At least the trial scenes provide a few actorly fireworks. Jentsch, a clearly intelligent actress, has to carry most of the rest of the film herself. She chooses a probably accurate but not very interesting default mode for Sophie: mildly shell-shocked to the extent that terror, defiance and calculation all seem to be expressed with the same hangdog, moderately worried look. It's as likely as any the way Scholl really felt in the days leading up to her death. But like Rothemund's determination to shoot on drab, claustrophobic locations that either were or approximate the real wartime stations of his heroine's passion, it doesn't exactly draw a viewer in.

As these things go, Michael Verhoeven's ``The White Rose'' was far more suspenseful and Percyl Adlon's ``Five Last Days,'' which took the viewpoint of Scholl's older cellmate Else Gebel, offered greater character delineation. And - how to put this delicately? - Lena Stolze, who played Scholl in both films, made her rather sexier (and not just in the prurient sense).

All that noted, ``Sophie Scholl - The Final Days'' is a worthy work that presents valuable new information about the case. It's a fine introduction for those unfamiliar with the story and a good piece for advanced students, too.

Bob Strauss, [phone]

bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com

SOPHIE SCHOLL - THE FINAL DAYS - Two and one half stars

(Not rated: violence)

Starring: Julia Jentsch, Alexander Held, Fabian Hinrichs.

Director: Marc Rothemund.

Running time: 1 hr. 57 min.

Playing: Town Center 5, Encino; Playhouse 7, Pasadena; Music Hall, Beverly Hills; Monicas, Santa Monica; Lido, Newport Beach.

In a nutshell: Historically precise but dramatically arid study of the anti- Nazi student's interrogation, trial and execution in 1943 Munich. In German with English subtitles.