Le médecin de famille

A stranger, with a foreign accent, asks if he can follow a family on the road towards the South. The father agrees, though everyone look at him warily. Everyone but Lilith, the 12 year-old girl who looks 8, fascinated by this man fixing his gaze on her.

Lucia Puenzo is known for exploring difficult and unusual relationships, and this particular feature makes her movies quite appealing. Add to that, beautiful landscapes, solid directing and you've got one of the best thrillers of 2013.

Also interesting to see, the way South America coped with ex-NSDAP members and how they continued to live and work amidst general indifference.

Some things seem like never ending, and as such this movie truly acts like a spell.

"The German Doctor" is an Argentinean film based on real events. Interestingly, the man who wrote the novel, Lucía Puenzo, also wrote the screenplay, produced AND directed this movie. It's also really worth your time, as Puenzo shows a very deft hand helming this interesting picture.

The story is set in Argentina in 1960*. A family has decided to move into the Patagonian countryside and open up a bed guesthouse. Their first customer is a handsome and genial German man who is very easy to like. The daughter in particular spends a lot of time with this man. This is because he is a doctor and claims he might be able to help the girl. After all, although she's 12, she appears to be about 9 years- old and the kids at school make fun of her because of this. With the mother's permission, the good doctor tests out his new formula which might help her to grow. They have no idea exactly what he's giving her, but the formula does seem to help. In addition, since the doctor is such a nice man, he offers to help the pregnant mother who soon learns from the doctor that she's going to have twins. Unfortunately, it turns out that the doctor isn't who he says he is...he's Joseph Mengele-- the notoriously evil Nazi who worked at Auschwitz. And why was he so notorious? Because he performed all sorts of ungodly experiments on people...and his subjects of choice were twins. And, according to the film, his wicked experiments continued long after the war had ended.

While I would love to tell you that the film has a happy ending**, it didn't. After all, this psychopath was one of the most important Nazi war criminals to escape prosecution. So, if you are the type that expects or needs a happy ending, then you just might want to pick another movie. Nevertheless, it is exquisitely crafted and not excessively sad nor graphic--at least in regard to what you see and hear during the course of the film. It's much more thought- provoking than anything else--and a movie that is well worth your time.

*Although I loved the film, the attention to period detail was poor. The film was set in 1960 but many of the cars are late 1960s vintage. **My daughter saw this in the theater and was shocked to hear several people complain about the film because it did not have a happy ending. I hate to think that they wanted them to change history and have the doctor captured and shot. While satisfying, this just isn't what happened to the guy!

Puenzo has managed to create an interesting story that revolves around Mengele's arrogant manipulation of an Argentinian family.

Its focus is initially on his relationship with the 12 year-old girl, Lileth, and his wish to help her with growth hormone treatment, however, it is never really made clear in the film as to whether this is merely Mengele seeing an opportunity to carry on his experiments or there is something darker about this relationship. Mengele manages throughout the film to manipulate the parents through promises of helping Lileth and easing the discomfort of the pregnant mother, and even offering to financially back the father in a potentially lucrative doll-making business.

Puenzo uses the doll-making as a metaphor for Mengele's obsession with perfection which is a little heavy-handed, and Mengele's relationship with Lileth is rather confused. Both of these point to the fact that Puenzo could really have opened up the story a bit more as there are hints at something far more sinister going on around the Claustrophobic confines of the family.

The German school Lileth is sent to has an underlying stench of Nazism still at play, yet this is something that Puenzo fails to explore. Also, the character of Nora, an archivist, photographer and Israeli agent, is underdeveloped. Puenzo merely hints at the work of Mossad and the how this is an important factor in the behaviour of both Mengele and Nora, also the group of Nazis working in a nearby country house isn't explained until Eva, the mother, gives birth and this necessitates Mengele requiring the help of the Nazi clinic.

So, for me, Puenzo should have explored many of the underlying themes evident in the story. This felt like a 90 minute movie that could have added another half an hours worth of expositional drama that would have created more of a sense of suspense. As such, Wakolda is an interestingly dark drama, yet one that lacks the depth of a bigger movie.

Just saw one of the most compelling movies I have seen in quite a long time. "The German Doctor". It has the beautiful scenery of Bariloche Argentina shot throughout and some of the best acting I have seen in years along with a compelling musical score. It's basic plot deals with Mengele, perhaps one of the greatest villains to have survived the fall of the Nazi empire. He travels into Argentina and ingratiates himself with an Argentine family of Germany ethnicity. The role played by the doctor is both chilling and fascinating. Mengele comes across at first as a benevolent force, but soon we develop the insight not only as to who this person is, but how casually he dehumanizes everyone to meet his own terms of science and beauty. Pay special attention to the symbolism of dolls and their "sameness". The acting is exquisite, with Florencia Bado who conveys the innocence of a young girl who trusts "the German Doctor" as well as Natalia Oriero and Diego Peretti. There is no gruesome violence in this movie, no "action sequence", no CGI, no bad language, no nudity. Only the chilling suspense and dialogue of an evil passing itself as benevolence. The stark winter landscape and beautiful forests of that region are known to me and they were captured in a magnificent way. I cannot recommend this movie enough.

The true story of Dr Mengele, AKA The Angel Of Death, who, back in 1960, moves in with an Argentinian family, under a pseudonym. It quickly becomes apparent that he is not as clean as he makes out and starts doing experiments on the young daughter Lileth, very well played by Florencia Bado.

Àlex Brendemühl is superb as Mengele, really chilling and frightening and gives an insight into what a seriously deranged person Mengele really was. His desire for an Aryan race continuing long after the war, when he 'invests' some money into a doll factory, which makes doll's that all have to be identical.

There are also some great performances from Natalia Oreiro and Diego Peretti as the parents of Lileth. A fascinating movie, well worth a look.