|
It has been over sixty years since the end of WWII and the death of the Nazi regime and it has taken that long for German cinema to finally be able to deal with the subject on a comedic level. Perhaps comedy isn't the most appropriate reaction to such a catastrophe as attempted world domination and mass genocide, but then it is the best medicine they say. Unfortunately the medicine here goes down with a bit of a bitter taste. We must ask ourselves, should we be laughing at this? Of course there is plenty of drama as well - after all this is a film about a Jewish concentration camp prisoner working for Hitler, via Goebbels, in order to keep his family alive and well - and though the film does verge on camp at times, it never falls into the deep and nasty hole that was dug up by Roberto Begnini and his atrociously inappropriate Life is Beautiful.
Mein Fuhrer is the story of how Goebbels, 124 days prior to Hitler's eventual suicide, decides to get that good ole sturm und drung back by staging an elaborate rally (complete with backlot like facades to make the bombed-out Berlin seem as comfy and cozy as ever). An absurdist comedy of sorts, Dani Levy's tale of how one Jew almost took down the Third Reich singlehandedly (unwittingly assisted by Goebbels), could have been a firestorm - a blitzkrieg if you so desire - of audacious bravura. I asked earlier if we should be laughing at this. The answer is an irrevocable ja. There are no more sacred cows as it were. Everything is free game.
There have been those who claim Mein Fuhrer is sacrilege toward all those who died in the camps and yes, the film can be seen as such on some level I suppose, but it can also be seen as a freedom of the memories of those people as well. Finally they are released from their confines of dramatic insistence and are allowed to laugh at the atrocities and therefore rise above them. Of course this all depends on Levy creating a fascinating and biting satire of such atrocities (again, the opposite route that Begnini took). Unfortunately we get nothing of the kind.
Modestly entertaining, Levy's film is too tiresome to effectively work as biting satire. Playing out as Hitler and the headshrinker, Levy's film never reaches the heights that its parodic subtitle ("The Truly Truest Truth About Adolf Hitler") suggests. It never gets aloft so to speak. Helge Schneider does a unique take on Hitler (almost as a sickly Tony Soprano of sorts) and Ulrich Muhe (the reluctant hero of the Oscar winning The Lives of Others) is poignantly palpable in what would be one of his final roles. Unfortunately neither actor is capable - or willing I suppose - of going past the mundaneness of the filmmaking, but they both give it one hell of a try in their own respectively overstated and understated ways.
For a much better take on WWII satire - and one that is most certainly more over the top - just take a look at Quentin Tarantino's recently released Inglourious Basterds (oddly enough starring the same actor in the integral role(s) of Herr Goebbels). Granted, QT never delves into the holocaust factor nor does he ever even make mention of the camps, but what he delivers is much in the vein of what Levy so desires here. A fiery satire full of moral indignation and ultimate cathartic release (even if their endings differ so dramatically). What Tarantino delivered in his Grand Guignol of revenge fantasy is just what this film so desperately needs. Chutzpah. Bravura. Balls.
If one is to take on a subject as taboo as this (and that anathema is even stronger considering this was a film made by a Jewish filmmaker in Germany itself) one should not hold back, hoping for reverence of some sort. That was Begnini's mistake. He tried to make his holocaust comedy about the reverent love of a man and his child and ended up with a maudlin piece of scorn. Here Levy does not get too maudlin, but the filmmaker instead goes the almost tippy-toed way of beating around the bush instead of (Tarantino's route) beating on the head. To use an (oddly placed!?) Elvis lyric - a little less conversation, a little more action please. Although this is certainly not always the answer - and Tarantino manages both action and conversation in his glourious inglouriousity - but in this case, a little more pomposity, a little more arrogance would have been a welcome delight. [09/22/09]
|
