Based on the chilling true story of the Executioner of Emsland, THE CAPTAIN follows a German army deserter, Willi Herold (Max Hubacher), after he finds an abandoned Nazi captain’s uniform in the final weeks of World War II. Emboldened by the authority granted to him by the uniform, Herold assembles a band of soldiers who heed his commands despite suspicions about his legitimacy. Claiming to have direct orders from the Führer himself, he soon takes command of a camp of imprisoned Germans accused of criminality and begins to dispense harsh justice. Increasingly intoxicated by his unquestioned authority, the enigmatic imposter in the uniform soon discovers that many people will agreeably follow the leader. Blackly comic and uncompromising, THE CAPTAIN is a simultaneously horrifying and intoxicating parable that reveals the dark roots of fascism in the hearts of those in, and out of, uniform.
