Germany 1944. As World War II enters its final stage and Berlin itself is under heavy bombardment, a worried Joseph Goebbels decides to retrieve from a concentration camp one Adolf Grunbaum, a once famous Jewish actor, so that he can train Hitler to give better speeches (???) that would boost the morale of the Germans. Or something like that. And this is just the beginning, since the movie becomes more and more absurd, as the actor becomes some sort of psychoanalyst to the Fuhrer (talk about stereotypes, the character of Grunbaum has Weak Jew written all over it). Reportedly, the director decided to make this film after seeing Downfall and feeling that Hitler and the other Nazi top leaders were respected too much in that movie. He wanted to make a comedy where Hitler would be ridiculed. One can see this intention from the start, when Hitler is shown in a grotesque makeup. Fair enough. I have no problem with a movie mocking Hitler. The problem, I see, is that the plot is offensive and ridiculous. You just can't mix the Holocaust with a comedy. The great Dictator looks terrible now, but Chaplin at least has the excuse that he filmed it before the Holocaust. To give an idea, in its "let's have a humor out of the third Reich" theme, it's as offensive as Roberto Benigni's Life is Beautiful. And the fact that the director of this is Jewish itself can hardly justify it. Note: playing Grunbaum is the actor who was the Stasi officer in The Lives of Others. Sadly, soon after this film was released he died of cancer.
