There isn’t likely to be a contemporary film as divisive as The Keeper. Not that it separates opinions over its style or content, but rather over its sympathetic treatment of the real-life World War II-era story of Bert Trautmann, a German Nazi officer who was held in a British-run prisoner-of-war camp and, almost incredibly, eventually became, for years after, a beloved goalie for the Manchester football club.
Making all this morally dubious material plausible on-screen (though, again, it in fact happened) is German director Marcus H. Rosenmuller, who deftly handles the implied quandaries surrounding Trautmann’s rise from enemy to champion, lover, husband to an English rose, and father.
David Kross is remarkable as Trautmann, bringing a soulfulness to the man that makes the character warm-blooded and human as he bears up under vengeful English guards. The latter’s rage is nothing compared to that of the community’s soccer fans when the coach of a local minor team defies resistance to Trautmann by placing the German athlete at the sensitive position of goalkeeper.
When that coach’s daughter, Margaret (Freya Mayor), falls for Trautmann, a whole other level of bigotry emerges, and Trautmann’s essential decency transcends that bias, too. In time, Trautmann goes pro and wins over the whole of England, a tremendous achievement balanced by some of life’s other mortal costs.
Rosenmuller makes a handsome film of this special story and offers an audience a genuine experience of rising above its own prejudices and accepting the man beneath collective guilt on his shoulders. Rosenmuller also captures some exciting soccer action as Kross proves to be a thrilling goalkeeper indeed. Strongly recommended.