A TAUT
DRAMA WITH
STINGING REALISM
Review by John Delia
Written and directed by Lucia Puenzo the stirring film The German Doctor takes a disturbing view of the genetic researcher and Nazi physician Josef Mengele. The movie depicts the man on the run in a softer light than the crimes he’s been convicted of committing, including medical experimentation and sending hundreds of Jews and Gypsies to their death at Auschwitz during WWII. Although the acting, direction and cinematography are superb, the realistic value suffers.
The story centers on Josef Mengele (Àlex Brendemühl) posing as Helmut Gregor in hiding to evade detection by Nazi hunters in Venezuela. Traveling in a car on a desert road during a rainstorm Helmut encounters Enzo (Diego Peretti) driving a truck with his family and asks if he can follow them as he has lost his way. He eyes his teenage daughter Lillith (Florencia Bado) then trails the family in his car. They arrive at their turnoff point to a private road that leads to a vacant hotel and then direct Helmut to the village he is seeking.
Days later Helmut shows up at the hotel and finds out that Enzo’s wife Eva (Natalia Oreiro) has inherited the lodge and is going to reopen it. He begs them to let him rent a room for 6 months and they accept. He tells the couple that he is a genetics scientist working on a hormone therapy. During his stay he gets close to Lillith their young daughter and finds out that she has been bullied by her schoolmates due to her small stature. He tells Eva he can help her grow faster with a special serum. While Eva wants it to happen, Enzo objects. When Lillith pushes urges him to do the injections anyway, Helmut starts to look at her as his chance to continue what he started at Auschwitz.
The movie gets really compelling with Lillith receiving treatment with growth hormones and then Eva allowing Helmut to give her special vitamins for her pregnancy. Director LucÃa Puenzo, who also wrote the book “Wakolda†on which the film is based, does a nice job of bringing her characters to the screen. Her actors are extremely well trained, know their characters and yet she brings a feel of disturbing romanticism to the film. If there is a downfall to the film it’s Puenzo’s obvious sentiment for the beast of Auschwitz that comes across unrealistically idealistic. Adding a more ominous Helmut may have been a better choice considering Mengele’s horrific crimes against humanity.
She’s a very good task master however, getting to the subject matter of Mengele’s motives early on, pulling Lillith to the forefront and then using Eva as a confident to fend off Enzo’s objections. She grows the unsettling situation showing Lillith’s attraction to Helmut as a father figure and salvation from peer pressure. Bringing Helmut into the ‘family’ Eva also gets drawn to the handsome German who tantalizes her with his charms. Helmut’s the virus in the room and Enzo becomes helpless to his cause.
While I mention the superb acting all around, there’s one character that deserves special mention, Nora Eldoc played by Elena Roger. She plays the Nazi Hunter who’s undercover as an archivist and photographer for a library. Her character is based on a true life member of the Israeli Mossad. She gives an admiral performance bringing suspense and urgency to the film. Closing in on the beast of Auschwitz, Eldoc’s investigation causes Helmut to stray from his plan to continue experimentation on the unwitting family.
The German Doctor has been rated PG-13 by the MPAA for thematic material and brief nudity. The film is presented in German and Spanish with English Subtitles. Please keep in mind that although the film is fact based as to the whereabouts of Mengele during the period covered by Puenzo, that the family and Lillith are fiction based.
FINAL ANALYSIS:Â A compelling drama that stirs up dread and memories of one of the Holocaust monsters. (B)
Additional Film Information:
- Cast: Alex Brendemuhl, Florencia Bado, Natalia Oreiro, Diego Peretti, Elena Roger and Guillermo Pfening
- Directed and written by: LucÃa Puenzo
- Genre: Drama, Foreign
- MPAA Rating: PG-13 for thematic material and brief nudity
- Running Time: 1 hr 33 min
- Release Date: May 16, 2014
- Distributed by: Samuel Goldwyn Films
Now Showing at: Miami Dade College Tower Theater / Miami, Aventura Mall 24 Theaters / Aventura, South Beach 18 / Miami Beach, Movies @ Lake Worth / Lake Worth , Movies of Delray 5 / Delray Beach, Delray Marketplace Stadium 12 / Delray Beach, Movies @ Lake Worth / Lake Worth, Tampa Theater/Tampa.
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