"Neger, Neger, Schornsteinfeger" is a German 2-part movie from 2006 and this one runs for a total of 3 hours approximately. Like so many other films, it is set during the days of Nazi Germany, but the most interesting aspect here is that it is about the life of a young German boy whose father is black. The latter plays not a role in this film. It is all about the boy (and the mother). And while everybody knew how Germans back then thought about Jews, Blacks are an entirely different subject matter, especially if these are eager to become good Nazis and are best in their class and eager to enter the Hitlerjugend. So this is what a lot of the film is about. There is a great deal of rejection in here, but there are also people in here who accept him the way he is like most of all the boy's mother of course (Veronica Ferres), but also boxing coaches or teachers too. Yes there is some bad acting in here for sure at times, but also some good and it's tolerable for 180 minutes. It probably also helps that this is never the story of Ferres' character regardless of how close she is. The one thing this film never is is subtle. It's all in your face, especially the discrimination most of all by the male teacher or also by the police later on. You can somewhat justify it, so the writers here somehow managed to hide their shortcomings as they are somewhat justified by the political climate. But still at times they become painfully visible, like when they are going for emotion like the way they connected Schmeling's big win to the boy's fate. That was a bit cringeworthy to be honest. Still the film was at its best when the boy was small again. When an older actor took over, the story did become less interesting I cannot deny it. The cast includes some solid names which shows Nazi films always attract big name actors, even if the material is nothing extraordinary at all. The title already gives away what to expect here. Oh no they said the N-word. How edgy. It's all bait and make-believe and there really isn't a lot of substance to the film and the few good moments are equalized by some pretty bad moments. It may have helped the film that this was based on real people, but I am 100% sure that with proper execution, this could have been a way better film about Hans Jürgen Massaquoi's early life. I don't know if I should hope he liked or didn't like the film as he did live to see it. But I know I didn't like it overall. Such a good subject, but such a mediocre outcome. And it sure isn't half as epic as they want us to believe it to be. Watch something else instead.
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