Mein Führer - Die wirklich wahrste Wahrheit über Adolf Hitler (2007) Reviews

• Poor Helge

  adiradathel2007-01-13

  Surprisingly, a lot of controversy has started around it in Germany. Many Jewish NGOs and notable persons like Marcel Reich-Ranicki criticize this movie, saying that making a Hitler-Satire offends the memory of all those lives murdered in WWII. They say, this movie ridicules Hitler's evil and therefore makes him human (Err, what else was he? Elephant?) PC-drivel. I couldn't care less. The problem with this comedy is, it is not funny. Levy was obviously concerned about exactly these reactions and therefore included a morality play about Gruenbaum's attitude and difficulties. This in itself is a bad idea, but it sinks this wreck of a movie even faster by being overemphasized with no end. To make a biting satire about Hitler, you have to go all the way like "To be or not to Be" did. If you're not the man to do it, don't try. Awful, boring, not funny, hypocritical, totally irrelevant and definitely not recommended. I am not a friend of Helge's surreal antics, but he didn't deserve to sink in this tripe.

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• Neither fish nor meat - just Levy

  RudiRe2008-03-13

  This movie wants to be a funny satire, but it's just a piece of embarrassing garbage. Camera, music and set design are very good, yet each of the actors seems to have another definition of comedy and the director was unable to communicate them HIS sense of it. Topsy-Turvy in the ensemble, although some good German actors do their best (esp. Ulrich Mühe). The absolute disaster is the screenplay. Neither comedy nor drama, it keeps searching for an identity. That's why the whole movie fails - Neither fish nor meat - just another silly joke-ridden but unfunny, pseudo-operatic flop by Dany Levy as so many before. Chaplin (The Great Dictator) and Mel Brooks (The Producers - Frühling für Hitler) have achieved with ease, what this movie tries hard but doesn't convey at all. Dany Levy still has to learn a very important film school lesson - screen writing (and in part directing) is just not his cup of tea. He's much better in fund raising money for (his) movies than making them. As most Levy movies, they are a waste of the German taxpayers money, funded by costly German TV-stations and funds of various state-departments.

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• Half a comedy

  praunss2007-01-26

  As I heard, that there will be a new comedy about the king of villains, I was positively surprised. In Addition to that, Helge Schneider, a discussable but in my eyes brilliant comedian was chosen to play the "Führer". Unfortunately, I had to recognize, that this movie was not, what I had in mind. Instead of creating an outstanding satire about the history of Germany and its development in our minds, they just couldn't manage to cross the border of moral standards founded in our own history school lessons. Not able to make real fun out of it, it seems that they just shot another movie to strengthen old-fashioned prejudices and long lasting jokes about the misuse of the word "Heil", at which has been laughed for about nearly 60 years now. Concerning these redundant lacks in satire, it is necessary to warn especially German viewers: it's not really funny, believe me !

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• intelligent Hitler parody

  ella_rebella2007-01-06

  I thought about leaving the sneak preview theater, because I wasn't sure if I could stand Helge Schneider as Hitler. I personally dislike Helge Schneider movies. But i'm happy i gave it a second thought when i noticed that it is a Dani Levy movie. I think Levy is an excellent director. The movie seems to be a low budget production due to the crappy CGI work but nonetheless, it's a good satire dealing with a serious topic in the right way... i think satire is an appropriate approach to deal with the person Hitler was. compared to "Der Untergang", which made Hitler a piece of "pop-culture" and tried to portray his character as real as possible, this movie criticizes that and fascism with black humor, sarcasm and creativity. Sometimes i found it quite Chaplin-esk (you know "the great dictator") and that's not a bad reference. I was surprised Helge Schneider's performance was decent and not as stupid as in "Praxis Dr. Hasenbein" (no offense to Schneider fans, but i couldn't sit through that movie, so i turned it off after 30 minutes). Schneider is a good musician though. Ulrich Mühe's performance is great as usual. Dr. Adolf Grünbaum is an actor who gets out of the concentration camp Sachsenhausen due to the order to teach Hitler the art of acting, to perform his speeches right to seduce the masses and make them believe they still could win the war. But Hitler lost faith in the over all victory, so it's a tough job for Grünbaum. Hitler is pretty neurotic and a bed-wetter, who was beaten up by his father. Which makes it hard for Grünbaum to simply kill Hitler, when he got the chance. Although this might sound like a flat comedy, it's really not! It's a satire, and satire hurts sometimes, like reality does. I really liked the other actors, who played Hitler's staff officers. It was Goebbels i liked most. Kudos to the casting, because in this movie the audience hasn't the problem that it's hard to distinct one staff officer from another like in "Der Untergang". They really got different characters. All in all, go watch this movie. It's pretty refreshing after the hype around "Der Untergang".

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• Worth seeing for how different and unique it all is

  Horst_In_Translation2016-12-25

  "Mein Führer - Die wirklich wahrste Wahrheit über Adolf Hitler" or "Mein Führer: The Truly Truest Truth About Adolf Hitler" or just "My Führer" is a German German-language movie from 2007, so only a couple more weeks and this one will have its 10th anniversary. The writer and director of this 90-minute film is Swiss filmmaker Dani Levy. The title already tells you what to expect here. Or does it really. Yes it is a film about Adolf Hitler, but it is really a fictitious film that has nothing to do with reality. When I tell you that Hitler in here is played by Helge Schneider, you should already know what to expect basically. Yes there are serious moments in here like mentions of concentration camps and other stuff, but they only way to enjoy this one is really only if you see it as a comedy for the most part. It is mostly worth seeing for how absurd it all is. Hitler suffers from burnout and lacks his usual power and determination. So Goebbels gets a Jewish artist/actor out of a concentration camp so that he can revive the old spirit in Hitler. Why a Jew you wonder? They explained that in the film as well because a Jew is the only one who can really evoke true emotion in Hitler because of how much he hates them. Does it really make sense? I doubt it. But that's not a problem at all as if there is one thing this film is not trying to be, then it would be to make sense. It is all about giving us a different fictitious take on the subject and this idea makes a lot of sense. There are so many Hitler movies that try to be all accurate and realistic, but film is always about creative fiction as well, so why is it so underrepresented when it comes to depicting historic events? This is a different perspective here and as such it is indeed very refreshing. Yes not every joke is a true winner, but that's never the case for a comedy film anyway. I found it easy to appreciate this one for what it is and there were actually some really funny scenes like the one when Hitler impersonates a dog and his dog wants to jump on him and the Nazi officer is watching. Or the ending is also pretty good. Let me just say "Heal yourself." I think they chose a good way in making fun of the Führer throughout the entire movie and to show that there is another better response to him than fighting violence and cruelty with violence and cruelty. So yes, this film definitely has a good message as well. And completely aside from the story, it cannot be ignored that this film includes actors like Groth, Noethen, Schneider, Mühe and others and that is a cast that cannot be denied its talent. I personally do not like Katja Riemann, so I am glad she had almost no screen time despite playing such an important character. Oh well, I guess Eva Braun really isn't that important at all in this film here. She does hardly play a role at all. All in all, like I already said, it is crucial that you approach this movie with the right idea. Then I am sure you also will not find it offensive. And if you take a look at Dani Levy's own religious background and understand that he is the man in charge, then there is no reason to be offended anyway I think. I believe this film was a good satire that rarely offers greatness, but gets more and more interesting the longer it goes on and has some truly hilarious scenes. People may ask if this film should be allowed and my response would be a resounding: Yes! I recommend checking it out and it's another example for me that Helge Schneider is really never a miss for me, regardless of him starring in his own movies or "only" acting. He also proved that he can easily hold his own against Germany's acting elite if he has to and I think he was a great choice for Hitler here. I am of course a bit biased when it comes to Schneider. But still, this movie was a hilarious watch, also very essential with this runtime and never drags, probably closer to a ****/***** than a **/***** for me and you really need to check it out.

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