The Red Baron was filmed entirely in English to improve its international commercial viability.In 1916, Manfred von Richthofen is serving as a fighter pilot with the Imperial German Air Service along the Western Front.
Later, during an aerial dogfight, Richthofen again encounters Captain Brown, who has escaped from a German prisoner of war camp after being nursed by Käte.
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.
After Richthofen expresses gratitude for his wound keeping him out of the fighting, an angry Käte takes him on a tour of a local field hospital, berating him for regarding the war as a game.
During the raid, Richthofen's wound begins to reopen, making him disoriented, and upon witnessing the combat death of his protege Kurt Wolff, he goes into a state of rage in the air.
During another visit, Richthofen informs Käte that he has been offered a rear echelon position in command of the entire Air Service.
On April 21, 1918, Richthofen is wakened with the report of a British formation approaching the front, after making love to Käte.
He has a brief talk with his pilots and, along with Lothar, advises his newly arrived and inexperienced cousin Wolfram von Richthofen against putting himself in unnecessary danger.
A shooting schedule from 10 July 2006 to 3 October 2006 took place in the Czech Republic at Prague and surrounding areas as well as locations in France and Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
[6] The Red Baron premiered on 31 March 2008 in Berlin and was released a week later in the German cinemas but was quite controversial in Germany, where glorification of war heroes has become taboo.
The film received a cool reception at the Berlin premiere and one member of the audience stated that Richthofen's disillusion with the war was not believable.
(In one case, seeing that an enemy pilot's gun had jammed, Von Richthofen waved him down to the ground, jumped out, shook his hand and then took off again.)