The depths of Nazi anti-Semitism are plumbed yet again by this PBS-style, based-on-real-events drama, in which the Third Reich goes to great lengths to prevent champion high jumper Gretel Bergmann (Herfurth) from representing the fatherland in the '36 Olympics. (Because she's Jewish, see?) Their solution: promote male transvestite athlete Marie Ketteler (Urzendowsky) as the great white hope for getting the gold. The burgeoning relationship between both the athletes, bonding over a kindred "otherness," is handled tastefully by director Kaspar Heidelbach, though the lack of new insights on the subject of National Socialism's wickedness ultimately reduces a well-staged film to a historical footnote.
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