Audacious and wicked smart, perfectly fitted with life-lessons & sentiment, Taika Waititi finds a near miraculous balance of laughs & fear in tagging along with a hapless if enthusiastic Nazi Youth (Roman Griffin Davis) in a German town near the end of WWII. The comic twist is that the boy’s mentor is his imaginary friend, Adolph Hitler (played to the hilt by Waititi); and the tragic twist is that Mom (Scarlet Johansson) is an anti-Nazi sympathizer hiding a young Jewish girl in the attic of their house. It’s not long before the secret is discovered by the boy, but kept hidden for mutual protection. And not much longer before our 10 year-old Nazi booster falls for the slightly older girl closeted in the floor above. Dicey material for broad comedy, but a superb cast (standout work from Sam Rockwell & chubby kid Archie Yates), convincing production design & even a wildly fluctuating tone rarely lose their footing. It’s just one great creative decision after another, especially in holding off on special effects or CGI for imaginary Hitler*; and in Waititi’s clever use of anachronistic music cues & modern slang which never come off as artsy/fashionable choice, but help open the film & ideas to audiences that might otherwise not be interested. Neither fantasy nor satire, which is how the film is being sold, and with sentiment earned thru devastating personal loss, the film is a dare that pays off.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *The lack of special effects for ‘imaginary’ Hitler gives way in a bit of CGI on a final shot. One of the few missteps in the pic. Joseph Mankiewicz made much the same choice presenting his ‘ghost’ in THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR/’47, before using a double-exposure special effect right at the end.
DOUBLE-BILL: For more boldly comic/heartfelt Waititi, but in semi-autobiographic mode: BOY/’10.
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