Il est de retour

"Even Poland still exists! This war has been useless!" erupts Adolf Hitler not too long after the movie has started. This is one of the many instances one has to fight the urge to spit one's drink all over the place. A fish out of water if there was ever one, Look Who's Back puts an outrageous twist on the stuff of legend (Elvis not dead, neither Marylin, or MJ) and precipitates a resurrected Hitler in contemporary Germany. The Fürher still thinks he's on command; harsh reality quickly enlightens him: he is a laughing stock, with a future in stand up comic.

This movie is way better that it should be, a miracle walk on a very, very tight rope. The first reason is of course the delightful performance of Oliver Masucci, unrecognisable behind his moustache. Compared to him, the rest of the cast is a bit run-of-the-mill, but most of the scenes involving public appearances have been improvised, and what the common German people have to say about a Hitler comeback is as hilarious as it is frightening.

What could have been a series of vignettes à la Sacha Baron Cohen takes the trouble of developing a plot and various characters, to whom Hitler reacts with a mix of genuine passion for "the German people" and a sly denial of anything racist or xenophobic. He's the perfect politician, with an answer to any question and at least three escape routes planned for any quagmire.

Carefully editing a mix of newsreel (the Angela Merkel cameo, gratified with "the charisma of a cold noodle", is priceless), movie references (the Leni Riefenstahl opening title, the now-iconic Bruno Ganz' bunker scene, except it's oh so cleverly attributed to the villain of the piece) and guerrilla-style impromptu meetings, Look Who's Back manages to balance serious issues (far too many to list) and fleeting fads shedding a cruel light on our social networking culture. From an online "Adolf Hitler make- up tutorial" to a "I hate everyone but Hitler" tweet and the demonstration that Facebook is useless at recruiting Hitler Jungen, naturally springs the conclusion – it shames one to write it – that "no one ever stay mad at Hitler for very long".

Chaplin's The Great Dictator was a brave movie because it was fighting on the front of an ugly war. Look Who's Back adapts this sense of emergency and combativeness to our desperately stupid modern times. The worst thing Hitler can do is kill a puppy. Gasing whole families was "all a joke", as asserted by the latest generation of one of said families.

What to think of the world we live in, the duty of memory, the atrocities that constellated the 20th century, when one pees itself watching the most reviled person in history punctuating his nazi salute by the phrase "See you soon, Nigga"? If this blog has a meaning at all, it has found his first authentic modern monster. Bad news is it's a real one; good news is it's desperately funny.

...And that's why it was so scary.

This is a thriller. The premise is Hitler has some how come through time and believes fate has brought him here to clean house (again). However, the film was actually using this metaphor to describe the coming of the next Führer if we're not careful. If we let down our guard we absolutely WILL see the rise of the next Adolf Hitler.

The character of Hitler spoke the truth, mostly. His rhetoric cut to the heart of today's problems. It was a German production so, obviously, he spoke directly to German issues but again, Germany was just the stage and Hitler the puppet. The puppeteers were revealing a global truth wrapped in a local narrative.

Recall the time Angela Merkel, today's German Chancellor, called G.W. Bush on 9/11 and the subsequent "War on Terror" saying something to the effect of, "We've seen this before...!" THIS is what the movie is getting at.

This film is filled with amazing though often chilling street interviews featuring Hitler interrogating work-a-day people. Many of the younger of these people so open to the apparent humor or irony were embracing him, taking "Hitler selfies" - other older spectators and interviewees apparently LONGED for someone to take the reins and whip (Germany) into shape, getting rid of "suspicious-looking, bearded Salafists", etc. And these were not actors. The film was illustrating for you how Hitler rose to power the first time and how easily and quickly it could happen again.

This was a beautifully done movie. I have the book as well and I prefer the movie.

How to make a comedy out of very tragic events and characters? Adrian Brody did it in "Life Is Beautiful" about life in a concentration camp. "Look Who's Back" does it via the premise that Adolf Hitler returns to modern day Germany. Of course everyone believes that he is an actor - one who disturbingly never steps out of character. The audience knows that he cannot - as he actually is Hitler. Much of the film is humorous as Hitler tries to reestablish himself as "The Fuhrer" and tries to understand and cope with modern day technology and attitudes.

Oliver Masucci is brilliant as Hitler -playing the role so straight that he became very scary near the end. The brilliance of Hitler was aptly demonstrated as people began responding to the hate - filled rhetoric he employed on various television shows. In real life the industrialists supported Hitler because they were sure they could control him - they could not. The church supported him because they thought he would be useful to them and that they could control him - they could not. Finally the German Army threw in with him because they wanted to get rid of their rivals - Hitler's "brown shirt" Army - the Sturmabteilung (SA). He got rid of Strasser and Rohm and thousands of others as he dismantled the organization which carried him to power. But alas the Army also could not control him.

In the movie, he becomes a media star because of viewership and ratings. We see glimpses of the audience saying like "I think I agree with him, and he makes a lot of sense." The TV moguls are building their careers on his outrageousness and resulting popularity.

His grasp on people is creepy, insidious and feels quite realistic. This film shows you how riveting he could be - and gives you a glimpse into how he came to power.

So, beyond laughs - the message clearly is that this could happen again. We must be aware of potential dictators in our midst. A few people in the movie saw that he really was Hitler - and they were discarded at the end of the movie.

This movie is not a condemnation of Germany - past or present. Hitler in the movie postulates at the end of the film that we cannot get rid of him - because he is a part of us. I hope that is not true.

The movie shows Hitler in a current day setting. Which at first is very humorous, but during the movie it turns from just funny into awkward and beyond. There are great scenes in which the movie refers to other movies about Hitler, like "Der Untergang", but also hilarious scenes in which the absurdity of a present day Hitler are just fun. The turn of the movie is subtle and fascinating. You only notice it after it has already happened, which to me reflects the real way this would occur. It even happens that at some point the audience questions its own laughter. This movie is fun to experience, but also confronting in the upcoming changes in political landscape.

So watch out, it is not just a comedy!

This film is intended to be about the way modern German society deals with important issues facing them, and they way they can quickly come under the spell of a "strong leader" ETC. Unintended by the film makers I suspect, was the way the modern left exposed themselves in the way they see those who dare to disagree with their positive views on globalisation and internationalism.

The main message of the film seems to be that those Germans (or Europeans in any European nation) who believe that Germany isn't some giant refugee centre for the rest of the planet, and that Germans have a right to their own indigenous land, not the rest of humanity, are just like Der Fuhrer.

An example of this can be seen in real time news footage of a Swede making the suggestion that asylum seekers, heaven forbid, should actually accept the cultural and societal norms of Sweden. Oh how "Evil" of that "intolerant" man! The film is well made and funny (who'd a thought Germans had a sense of humour?) in places. But take the leftist political message with a grain of salt. Europeans have EVERY RIGHT to be concerned about their demographic integrity and migration from the developing world that never seems to cease. They have the right to be concerned about these things without being demonised as Nazis or anything else.