The Red Baron (film) - Plot

Plot

In 1906, a young Baron Manfred von Richthofen (Tomáš Koutník) is out hunting deer, with his younger brother and younger cousin, Lothar and Wolfram, when they hear an aeroplane overhead. Enchanted, he follows it on horseback, waving his arm.

Ten years later, Lieutenant von Richthofen (Matthias Schweighöfer) is serving as a fighter pilot with the Imperial German Air Service along the Western Front. After dropping a wreath over the funeral of an Allied pilot, whom they knew, Richthofen and his fellow pilots Werner Voss (Til Schweiger) and Friedrich Sternberg encounter a squadron of enemy planes led by Captain Lanoe Hawker. Richthofen shoots down Canadian pilot Arthur Roy Brown (Joseph Fiennes). After pulling Brown out of the wreckage of his plane, Richthofen assists Nurse Käte Otersdorf (Lena Headey) with applying a tourniquet to the Canadian's wounded leg.

Later, after successfully shooting down and killing "the notorious Captain Hawker," Richthofen is awarded the Pour le Mérite and promoted to command his own private aerial Squadron. There, he is soon joined by his brother Lothar von Richthofen. He orders his men to avoid killing enemy pilots unless absolutely necessary and is enraged when Lothar deliberately strafes and kills a British pilot who has already been forced into a landing.

Later, during an aerial dogfight, Richthofen again encounters Captain Brown, who has escaped from a German POW camp after being nursed by Käte. Brown lands his damaged aircraft in No-Man's land and von Richthofen lands to make sure Brown is well and in the process von Richthofen damages his aircraft. They share a friendly drink and Brown expresses the hope that they will not meet again until after the war is over. He tells Richthofen that Käte has feelings for him. When Richthofen asks how he can be so sure, Brown retorts, "She kept bitching about you for weeks."

On the way back to base, Richthofen is devastated to learn that his close friend, the Jewish pilot Friedrich Sternberg, has been shot down and killed. Over the days that follow, Richthofen makes no secret of his grief and refuses to leave his room. An enraged Lothar reminds him that "A leader cannot afford to mourn."

Shortly thereafter, Richthofen is wounded in the skull during a dogfight and is sent to be nursed by Käte. As he recovers, the two share a romantic dinner and a dance in Lille. After Richthofen expresses gratitude for his wound, an enraged Käte gives him a tour of a local field hospital and berates him for regarding war as a game.

Later, Richthofen and Käte are beginning to make love when they are interrupted by an Allied bombing raid. Determined to protect the squadron's aeroplanes, he orders Käte to hide in the cellar and takes to the air with his men. During the raid, Richthofen's wound begins to reopen, making him disoriented, and upon witnessing the death of his protege Kurt Wolff, he goes into a state of rage in the air.

During a later visit from Käte, Richthofen informs her that he has been offered a rear echelon position in command of the entire Air Service. Käte, who has long been frantic at the thought of losing him, is overjoyed. Richthofen, however, conceals his doubts from her. He goes to speak with Werner Voss (who is putting a British Bentley engine into his triplane) about what decision to make. The two joke that Voss is encouraging him to take the promotion so that he can pass up Richthofen's score. He then jokingly tells Voss that he will step down if Voss stops flying first. Voss replies by saying: "I don't think so. I'm married to my plane; this is how I spend my spare time."

Shortly after, Richthofen tours the Fokker manufacturing plant in Germany, when Anthony Fokker complains that Richthofen's pilots are installing enemy engines into the planes that he has made. When Richthofen asks how he knows about this, Fokker tells him about the British recovery of a "new triplane", and says that they were "...less than amused to find one of their own Bentley engines in a Fokker they shot down." indicating that Voss has been killed, and that Richthofen has lost yet another close friend.

Richthofen has realized that he is being manipulated for propaganda by Kaiser Wilhelm II and his Generals Ernst Wilhelm von Hoeppner, Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff. On the eve of the Spring Offensive in February 1918, he approaches Generalfeldmarschall von Hindenburg and tells him that the war has become a no-win situation which should be ended as soon as possible. Hindenburg is outraged and orders him back to his squadron.

As the offensive begins, Richthofen's squadron sets out to clear every Allied aeroplane and balloon out of the target area. As Käte tends the wounded on the ground, she is horrified to learn that her beloved has returned to combat.

Käte confronts him and demands to know why he has turned down the chance to remain safe. Richthofen states that he will not betray the soldiers in the field "by remaining the immortal god that Berlin wants me to be", and tells her that "You are my greatest victory."

On the morning of 21 April 1918, Richthofen leads his squadron into battle after making love to Käte. Soon after, he is killed in action.

In the aftermath, Käte crosses over to Allied lines with Brown's assistance. She directly addresses Richthofen's grave, "I could not come sooner. It is not so easy to cross the lines into British territory. Finally a friend of ours helped me. He asked me why it was important for me to come here. I told him I love you. Did I ever tell you?"

The camera pans to a funeral wreath left by the Royal Flying Corps, "To our friend and enemy, Manfred von Richthofen."