The Keeper – A Review of the Brilliant New Film about Bert Trautmann

As a football blogger there are few opportunities to attend press screenings of major new films so when the chance came for Man City Square to see the new film The Keeper prior to its release on 5 April 2019 we seized the moment.

This major new film tells the incredible true story of Bert Trautmann who was a German paratrooper during the Second World War and who was captured by the British, becoming a prisoner of war and who against a backdrop of British post war protest and prejudice became a football icon at Manchester City.

As a football fan I tend to view football related movies with a distinct unease – from the kitsch comedy of Escape to Victory to the dreadful Ian McShane starrer Yesterday’s Hero. The bar has been set pretty low by all these other sports movies. However you need not feel frightened for The Keeper is the real deal! This is a beautifully made movie which packs a significant dramatic punch as it attempts to resolve some big issues about the nature of people. Can you ever truly be redeemed?

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As a Manchester City fan I would be drawn to this movie anyway but after watching it I was struck by how universal the story was and how it would appeal to anyone who wanted to watch a drama about love and reconciliation against a backdrop of the horrors of the Second World War. In many ways the detail about Manchester City, and for a large part of the film the football itself, is just back story because the emotional weight and punch of the piece lies elsewhere.

The film opens with Trautmann as a German paratrooper on the Eastern front and deals with both the horror of war and his eventual capture and incarceration in a British Prisoner of War Camp. The motif of duty and the lost innocence of war is revisited throughout. Ultimately this requires Trautmann to confront his own personal responsibility for the sins of the Third Reich and allows him to seek some form of redemption and reconciliation.

One of the many things which struck me whilst watching from a modern standpoint is the parallel with the returning IS soldiers and how the loud echoes of intolerance seem equally prescient now as they did when Trautmann’s signing for City was met with loud protests. There are clear lessons in the past which are both uplifting and inspiring.

The dramatic performances in the movie are strong throughout. David Kross is excellent as the troubled Bert Trautmann but he was also superb in The Reader 10 years ago. I really like how he seemed to have somehow got that Trautmann diving style down to a tee, which is an indication of the sheer attention to detail which permeates the whole film. This is probably not a surprise given the involvement of Gary James, football historian in the project.

Freya Mavor is wonderful and warmly realistic as Margaret Friar and carries much of the emotional weight of the film on her shoulders. It is to her that the cost of redemption is ultimately borne. John Henshaw, celebrity City fan in real life, anchors the movie in the reality of the period and enables the audience to buy the transition of Trautmann from soldier to husband.

Some of the cinematography of Manchester and surrounds in the 1950s is truly breathtaking in its beauty recalling a simpler time. I have seen lots of movies where intrusive CGI makes all battle scenes just look like poor computer games but in this movie the CGI rendering of 1950s Maine Road and Wembley is stunning. I have no idea how the director has managed to capture the evocative old grounds but when these are intercut with newspaper and archive footage it makes the scenes all the more impressive.

Whilst it is not necessary to be a City fan or to know anything of the history of the period to enjoy this movie- the accuracy and attention to detail is fantastic. I really like the way in which Trautmann routinely touches the square goal posts before kick off – a simple moment illustrating the quality of this piece of film making.

This film is excellent and is well worth seeking out at the cinema following its UK release on 5 April 2019 to see the action on a large screen where you can feel the thud of the tackle which broke Trautmann’s neck in the 1956 FA Cup Final. Not just a football biopic but a drama which holds its own against the best of British cinema in recent years.