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Mein Führer - Die wirklich wahrste Wahrheit über Adolf Hitler (2007) More at IMDbPro »

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19 comments in total

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49 out of 73 people found the following comment useful :-
Poor Helge, 13 January 2007

Author: adiradathel from Europe

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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38 out of 61 people found the following comment useful :-
intelligent Hitler parody, 6 January 2007

Author: ella rebella from Germany

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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10 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
Neither fish nor meat - just Levy, 13 March 2008

Author: RudiRe from Munich, Germany

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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12 out of 20 people found the following comment useful :-
Fairly good, but rather tame., 25 January 2007
Author: René (rfak) from Vienna, Austria

Unlike other countries, where satire about the Holocaust and the Nazis are already common such an approach is in Germany completely new. Afraid of being once again under the allegation that the Germans are still a bunch of Nazis, German filmmakers so far never touched this topic. Therefore the strong reactions against this feature by various Jewish groups and celebrities.

They shouldn't have worried. Director Dani Levy, though making fun of the Nazi party and Hitler, in still never diminishes the dangerous situation and their inhumanity.

The film starts at the end of 1944. The war is already lost, Berlin is destroyed, the Nazi administration solidified, Hitler (Helge Schneider) in deep depression. Goebbels (Sylvester Groth), in an desperate turn to get Hitler on stage to give a marvelous speech, gets Hitlers old Jewish speaking tutor Prof. Grünbaum (Ulrich Mühe) from the concentration camp back to the Führerbunker in order to support Hitler.

Helge Schneider, who so far showed little acting talent (his so called comedies before had little to do with acting) surprises here with an impressive performance, while Ulrich Mühe is as always reliable and very good.

But sadly, instead of really bringing a biting satire to the screen, Dani Levy managed only a fairly funny film. There are some hilarious jokes, but most of the time it stays in already known ground and the the proceedings are often enough simply meek. It's a good movie, but not a great one. A chance missed.

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12 out of 21 people found the following comment useful :-
Half a comedy, 26 January 2007

Author: praunss from Germany

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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9 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
Great tragic comedy, a must see, 20 March 2007

Author: heywood-15 from Luxembourg

When I heard that Helge Schneider acts as Adolf Hitler, I thought the movie would be kind of a slapstick comedy, but it really isn't. If you like subtle humor then this is for you.

Dr Grünbaum, a Jew, finds himself in a dilemma between honor, pride & family. His only choice is to work with Adolf Hitler. Dr Grünbaum helps the one person that is responsible for the deportation & genocide of the Jews.

It's one of those movies that you'll hate or love... I loved it and had some really good laughs. And even if you don't like the humor, it's still a good drama.

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12 out of 23 people found the following comment useful :-
What a waste of time!, 9 January 2007

Author: stFun from Germany

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I was really looking forward to this movie but after having seen it, I was quite disappointed. Helge Schneider did some good acting and the also the idea of making a Hitler parody with him is great, but due to using only some old stereotype jokes instead of trying to benefit of Schneiders performance as a depressive and impotent dictator, "Mein Führer" presents itself as a boring attempt to benefit of the popularity and success of "Der Untergang". Nearly all the other characters seem to exist without a purpose. The don't contribute to the story in any sense besides making up some kind of conspiracy or being trapped in silly jokes. A sad example is the role of the "Reichsinnenminister": Himmlers part is reduced to standing around with his right arm being injured and forced to be stretched out, what a waste of Ulrich Noethens potential as an actor. I would have hoped for the movie to be more daring instead of relying on save politically correct jokes that were already used by many other previous directors.

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2 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
it's not funny and has nothing to do with reality, 2 February 2009

Author: Alexander L from Germany

This is really an awful movie. The director, who also wrote the script, Dani Levy did a incredibly stupid job. I still wonder how he god money from German fonds for this script. I think in general, that he is overrated ("Alles auf Zucker" is anything but interesting or funny) but this is even though a huge disappointment. First of all the plot is far from any reality. There never was any Jew who had to help Hitler overcome his depressions. Also Hitler was not observed by Goebbels and Co. He also never wanted to flee. His hole character is wrong. This Hitler is just not the real Hitler. This film gives the impression of a nice Hitler who was not responsible for anything. Just a poor guy in a bad situation. That Helge Schneider said in public that this movie is not good, says everything.

What I don't get is the lack of ideas in this film. The Nazis and the second world war give plenty of possibilities to make funny scenes of it. Levi must be a very unintelligent and uninterested person.

Also the camera work is really bad.

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2 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Strange Movie, 17 March 2008

Author: heike-23 from Germany

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

OK.. first I have to say, that you shouldn't watch this movie, if you have not enough knowledge about the cruelty and sadness of this time. Sure its a satiric movie, but in a very dangerous way, including some of the quotes and speeches. Hitler is described as a pitiful, poor boy who was mistreated by his dad and has no control about the things going on around him.

After a while, the movie gets a little bit boring. You start to count the days, Grünbaum is working with Hitler. It seems endless.

Helge Schneider acts in an interesting way. His face is stiff and motionless most of the time, but he imitates the voice of Hitler very good.

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4 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
A blend of comedy, irony, slapstick - and an underlying seriousness, 25 November 2007

Author: RKBlumenau from United Kingdom

I went to see this film with mixed anticipation because it was said to be a comedy about Hitler; but it had the great late actor Ulrich Muehe in it, and I was intrigued by what I had read about the plot of this film: a few days before the end of the war Hitler is a nervous wreck and incapable of making the inspiring speech which Goebbels has written for him. He needs coaching by an actor, and it must be someone who can rouse him to new heights of hatred which Hitler's favourite actors are said not to be able to do. So Goebbels gets a formerly famous Jewish drama teacher, Professor Gruenbaum, released from Sachsenhausen concentration camp with the task of coaching Hitler.

The acting was superb: Muehe's as Gruenbaum, of course, and also Helge Schneider's as Hitler, Sylvester Groth's as a smooth Goebbels, Ulrich Noethe's as Himmler (though it was surely unnecessary to have him have his arm strapped in a permanent Hitler salute), Stephan Kurt's as Albrecht Speer (not at all shown as the least guilty of the Nazis; and the members of Gruenbaum's family: Adriana Altaras' as his wife and Shawn Karlborg as his eldest teenage son. The production was also first class - excellent photography and absolute clarity of diction.

I think the film works very well except on the several occasions when the 'comedy' ('irony' would be a better word) tips over into slapstick which really should have been cut, both from the point of view of good taste and also because I think they weaken the film. The way in which Gruenbaum gradually acquires mastery over Hitler is beautifully paced and in terms of the film is even psychologically credible. Of course Gruenbaum, urged on by his wife, should use the opportunity of being so near to Hitler to kill him, and he twice comes near to do it; but in the end of course he doesn't - too proud of his success as a coach? And how does one end such a film? The climax is well staged, but doesn't, I think, quite come off.

With the reservations I have, I am glad I saw the film. There was little laughter during the showing I attended - and I think that was right and not a criticism of the film: the slapstick didn't deserve it, and the 'comedy' had of course underlying it a serious idea which forbids laughter.

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