Thursday, April 21, 2016

Look Who's Back

A time traveler in military uniform wakes up on a sunny Berlin afternoon in 2011, looking up at a blue sky without enemy aircraft overhead. He hears no shelling, explosions or sirens.  You know his name. You know his face.

I love Netflix... No Madison Avenue, and I get to watch movies that I would never otherwise get to see. 

I recently suffered through the subtitles of a German film named Look Who's Back, which places a time travelling Hitler in modern day Berlin.  Much of the movie is played for comedy, but the underlying theme is a people frustrated with immigrants coming into, and changing their country... And this strange man saying the things they've felt about the situation but never expressed.

A German television station finds him, and believing he is an actor and comedian, enlists him to come and drive up their ratings.  The first time he appears on live TV he just stands there for a full minute, silently looking at his audience, just as Hitler did before his speeches back in pre-war Germany.



At the end of the movie, film is shown of right wing hate groups protesting along with clips of the time traveling Hitler riding through the streets... And he exclaims, "I can work with this."

I recommend the film.  It shows how when a government is deaf to the concerns of its citizens, the way is paved for the ascendance of the most outrageous characters...

(If you're not thinking about Donald Trump by now... you may be a Trump Zombie.)

I'm sure it was meant to be a left wing warning against right wing extremism in Germany, but the overwhelming popularity that the film has enjoyed may suggest an effect that is something contrary to the filmmaker's intent.

....

2 comments:

Grammy said...

I can confidently say that I will never vote for Donald Trump. I''ll write in if he's the nominee. As a citizen and voter I don't ever want to wake up in the morning to the embarassing antics of that man as president and have to admit that I contributed to the circus. On top of the freak show, it's increasingly clear that he is NOT a conserative. I notice that he's floundering and clueless when espousing conservative priciples...how am I supposed to sound pro-life...how do I quote the Bible...but his move to the left is slick, smoothe and effortless.

Malott said...

I'm sure we will be encouraged to be good little soldiers and toe the mark... But it isn't going to matter in November when Hillary is 15 to 18 points ahead in the polls.
If Trump can't be presidential (And by that I mean both in manner and knowledge)enough to sway you or me... He isn't going to sway independents or the portion of our party that thinks.