Review of Our Flags Lead Us Forward

"Hitlerjunge Quex" or "Hitler Youth Quex" or "Our Flags Lead Us Forward" is a German 90-minute film from 1933. It is in black-and-white and it was from the early years of sound movies in Germany. If you see the year 1933 and know a bit about history, you will immediately realize that this is the year when Nazis came into power in Germany, almost 85 years ago. And they started with a bang in terms of propaganda movies. This one here is probably the second-most known non-documentary film (behind Jud Süß) from that dark era in world history. It is the story of a teenage boy who comes from a left-wing background, but quickly discovers that the Nazis are the good guys and the socialists/communists his father belongs to as well are the bad guys. They are depicted as people planning terrorist attacks and they are the ones who are indirectly responsible for the boy's mother's death and finally directly for the boy's death as well. The only intention director Steinhoff and writer Schenzinger had in this case was to show the population that left-wing politics lead to devastation in the end, but also that the Nazis' will to oppose these is very strong and that the boy did not die for nothing, but for the good cause. There is of course a priceless irony to this film with what happened in the 12 years afterward and I am not only talking about the concentration camps, but also to Hitler sending teenagers to war when all his adult soldiers had died. And in terms of irony, the future fate of lead actor Jürgen Ohlsen puts a major question mark behind this movie and the way the Nazis dealt with him when rumors about his alleged homosexuality surfaces. All in all, this film is really only worth watching for all the absurdity, but from the political perspective and in terms of understanding the events back then, this is almost a must-see, just for the wrong reasons. I recommend the watch.