Les leçons persanes

What a remarkable story! It is captivating and touching from start to finish. The final scene is very effective and moving.

This is a very new twist in an old genre. its a psychological thriller between two uneven characters. Lars Eidinger gives a tremendous performance that is nothing short of christoph waltz in Inglorious basterds. but he gives his character more depth and transforms him from a sadist to a man who also seeks love.

If you like this, I can also recomment Der Hauptmann with Max Hubacher turning from a refugee into a mass murderer. These two films are great exercises on the psychological mechanics of faschism.

I would vote an Oscar for this one if I were in the Academy. An unusual premise underpins a tension-filled two hours, culminating in a virtuoso climax that was the perfect denouement. Great performances, too.

A resourceful camp prisoner decides on the spot to impersonate a Persian to avoid being executed as a Jew in wartime France. Coincidence has it that one of the officers wants to learn Farsi, as he has the plan to move to Teheran after the war. Reza, as he now calls himself, teaches Klaus a completely invented language, which has the challenge for himself to also remember what he is "teaching". As a support he uses parts of the names of the camp inmates which he registers in a book as part of his job. There are scary moments when you think the scam will come out, but also it is funny to see how this smug officer is fooled. The film is gripping all the way long and of course you are curious how this will end for both of them. The actor portraying Reza is excellent, hung between being scared and needing to be convincing.

After thousands of movies about Nazis and concentration camps, one could think that nothing new can be said. But again, this movie surprises with an original and captivating story of a survivor.

In my opinion, though, the story of this Persian teacher is just a bonus. The main point of the movie is that Nazis weren't some sort of alien species from a distant planet. Yes, they were monsters. But they were human beings, with their love stories and job problems. One was dreaming about opening a restaurant, while another one was complaining that fish was to be served for lunch. It just happened that meanwhile they had to hate and kill other human beings as their daily task.

Of course, this is no excuse for the terrible crimes committed by the German nation during that time. On the contrary, it is a big warning for the rest of us.

It is very comfortable to think that we are immune, but we should all realize that, under specific conditions, all human societies are capable of the worse. Some of us could become the next Nazis if we don't learn from history. So, please, let's protect and cherish our fragile democracies!