princessnina3 Review of Look Who's Back

Look Who's Back (2015)

This film made me think twice, and still thinking about it...

[9/10 · 2 December 2015]

I've never written a review. But this movie made me think twice, so I thought I'd share my thoughts with you. Please don't be too harsh on me about mistakes in my English, my mother tongue is Dutch, so I am bound to make mistakes. As I said, I am Dutch; that makes me a neighbour of Germany, my parents grew up during the second WW, the school system educates us inside out about the war(s) and we learn German in school. So I have knowledge about Hitler, the way he rose to power, his gruesome deeds, his mistakes, also his successes, and his downfall. I was eagerly anticipating this movie, I had seen the trailers and they made me chuckle. Yet, I was very curious how the director was going to portray this character as "funny", since the trailers were portraying this movie as some sort of a comedy. In my opinion, Hitler is far from funny, yet I did smile during the trailers, which didn't really make me like myself. I had to see this movie. Fortunately it played in our local cinema, so I went, on a rainy afternoon. There were three other people there, one of whom was an elderly lady (with her grandson), discussing loudly how "they were going to make it credible how Hitler got back to present day". That was not my worry… As far as I could judge (and please don't slay me on this, I'm not an experienced movie critic) the movie made clever use of actors, as well as regular people, bystanders, whose reactions were filmed documentary wise while meeting "Hitler" (in SS uniform, a very good likeness, although in my opinion the actor was quite tall, whereas the real Hitler was quite short). My initial emotions during the beginning of this movie, were confusing to me. I had some good laughs, and I even felt sympathetic to the way he was portrayed. I couldn't help myself. I didn't want to feel sympathy for him or laugh about his silliness, yet I did. The beginning of the movie was humorous, yet as it progressed, it got more and more grim. And it was not because of the actors or the things happening in the movie, it was because of the reactions of REAL people to "Hitler". I could not believe my eyes and ears. And without getting too much into detail and thereby spoiling a lot of content, "Hitler" goes on a road trip through Germany and talks to real people. Their reactions made me cringe. But the director cleverly changes from scene to scene and the "bad things" tend to be forgotten soon enough, when funny things happen again. This also made me think, after the movie was done. All in all, the viewer will undoubtedly feel sympathetic towards Hitler. And then suddenly, 3/4th into the movie, there is a grim and sudden turning point, which leaves you in awe, and makes you THINK and gives you a bolt of reality. **SPOILER** Hitler is introduced to an elderly demented Jewish woman, yet the audience does not know she is Jewish, she is catatonic and does not react to anybody, including her family, yet when Hitler steps into the house and starts to speak, her head lifts, her eyes open wide and she starts to scream. This scene gave me goose bumps. While everybody tried to calm her down and said things like "he is not real", "it's just for fun", she exclaimed things like: "that's what everybody thought about him decades ago, yet he was not funny, or sympathetic, he was a beast of a man and murdered out my entire family", well you get the drift. I was shaken about this scene, because she was so right and I felt like I was put in my place! From here on, the movie takes a different course and all is not so funny anymore, but a tad grim. Yet, the director preserves humour by showing how real people react when they get confronted with "Hitler". You feel like a voyeur, and you feel substitute shame, which is all too real, cause these people are real! Toward the end there was another scene which made me think twice. **SPOILER** "Hitler" is filmed when somebody confronts him who found out that "Hitler" is not a clever fraud but real, and this persons wants "Hitler" to jump off a building, which eventually happens. When the confronter looks over the edge, "Hitler" is nowhere to be seen, but when he turns around, there "Hitler" is again, and he speaks, saying something like he cannot be killed, because he is a part of all Germans, part of their common history, and he cannot be erased from that. This made me sit upright again. Cause there's so much truth in it! I've had German friends, who had a huge love for Scotland. They went there every spare moment. I asked them once: "Why don't you ever speak about Germany? Or go on holiday there? Your country is really beautiful". They explained that they somehow felt this was not a right thing to do, because of Germany's burdened past. They could never say things like "we are proud of Germany", because it would immediately be associated with Germany's Nazi history. That's why they concentrated on other countries than their own. They underwent their Nazi past as a burden. I felt bad about this but I also had to acknowledge there must be truth in how my friends felt. My conclusion about this movie is, that I was ready to be entertained by it, yet I was left thinking twice about its message, and still thinking about it. The movie is never boring, the acting is very good and the characters very credible. There is a sublime mixture between humour and seriousness and plain "wow"-moment, I can't explain. But the best thing about this movie is, that it is contemporary and it really makes you think twice.