SPEER GOES TO HOLLYWOOD-sp
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The title of this film suggests that somehow the story of this major nasty figure has been jazzed up or perhaps has been fabricated to make it a Hollywood production. However, the director and producer, Vanessa Lapa and Tomer Eliav, producer and sound designer whom we met after seeing the film at Stephen Farber’s “Reel Talk” film series, claim the story is factual and true to life. They report how they had meticulously have gone through the archives of film about World War II including recordings of the Nuremberg Trials in which Albert Speer was one of the defendants. Interestingly, they did not use the voice of Speer but rather they hired a voice actor to speak the words of the real-life players mostly German with subtitles. The rationale was that the audio quality of these old tapes was too poor to use.

We mostly follow Speer during World War II as a designer and builder of prison camps as well as confidante to Hitler and his inner circle. The prisoners (obviously mostly Jews) are seen and there was indication of forced labor and exhausted emaciated prisoners. The actual crematoriums were not shown in much detail as they deserved to be shown. The fact that we were seeing actual pictures of the inhuman treatment of the Jews makes the film riveting even if we don’t fully appreciate Speer’s role in carrying out Hitler’s extermination plan.

Speer was apparently the only major figure not to be sentenced to execution at the Nuremberg Trials, but rather served 20 years in prison. He even subsequently wrote a successful book once he was released. The film does not clearly address why he was spared execution. There was some mention how he provided some valuable information for the allies and not to the Russians.

It is also interesting that in response to a question to the film makers they stated that the initial funding for the film was provided by the Israeli Government. Any new insight into the Holocaust even years later is still riveting. Although the film did not go as deeply as it might have done and did leave many unanswered questions, it still is a major contribution, so we will “never forget.”

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Jojo Rabbit-rm

On one hand, this is an outlandish, fanciful story about Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) a 10-year old German boy who has an imaginary friend who happens to be Adolf Hitler (played by the director, Taika Waititi). It is also a story about a young girl (Thomasin McKenzie) who is being hidden in the attic by Jojo’s mother (Scarlett Johanson) because she is Jewish and is being sought out in order to be murdered by the Nazis. Sam Rockwell has a somewhat slapstick role as the German captain who is training our little hero.

On one hand, this film is a comedy, but it is hard to laugh when we are being reminded of Anne Frank and the horrendous story of the Jews at the hands of the Nazis during World War II.

The film is extremely creative and very well done. It will hold your interest and make you chuckle just as it will allow you to reflect on this time in history. It is clearly worth seeing this satire, which emphasizes the cruelty, stupidity and unmitigated arrogance of the Nazi cause. It is another reminder of how important it is that no one is allowed to forget this horrific time in the history of the world. (2020)