Look Who's Back (2015)

Adolf Hitler wakes up in the 21st century. He quickly gains media attention, but while Germany finds him hilarious and charming, Hitler makes some serious observations about society.

Director:

David Wnendt

Writers:

David Wnendt (screenplay), Mizzi Meyer (screenplay)

Stars:

Oliver Masucci, Thomas M. Köppl, Marc-Marvin Israel

2 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Oliver Masucci	...	Adolf Hitler
Thomas M. Köppl	...	Benimmcoach
Marc-Marvin Israel	...	Fußballjunge
David Gebigke	...	Fußballjunge
Paul Busche	...	Fußballjunge
Fabian Busch	...	Fabian Sawatzki
Gerdy Zint	...	Pantomime
Nancy Maria Brüning	...	Mutter mit Kinderwagen
Lars Rudolph	...	Kioskbesitzer
Franziska Wulf	...	Krömeier
Christoph Maria Herbst	...	Christoph Sensenbrink
Thomas Thieme	...	Senderchef Kärrner
Katja Riemann	...	Katja Bellini
Michael Ostrowski	...	Rico Mancello
Christoph Zrenner	...	Gerhard Lummlich

Storyline

Adolf Hitler wakes up in Berlin...in 2014. After getting his bearings he is discovered by an unemployed TV producer, Fabian Sawatzki. Sawatzki thinks Hitler is some sort of performance artist and takes him around the country, talking to the general population, for a TV piece he has envisaged. Hitler, however, sees this as a chance to regain his popularity and power.

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Plot Keywords:

adolf hitler character | satire | political satire | smoke | appearance | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the footage of modern-day politicians, the former leader of the Green party "Bündnis 90/Die Grünen" Renate Künast and the former leader of the Social democratic party SPD Sigmar Gabriel are seen. In the original book Hitler gets his own talk show, on which Künast is the first guest. He also talks of Sigmar Gabriel in the book, when he asks Hitler if he wants to join their party.

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Goofs

The movie is supposed to be set in 2014 (with only a time skip of 3 months made known to the viewers), yet when Hitler is introduced to the Internet by Krömeier and he visits Google's home page the current Google logo is featured, said logo wasn't introduced until late 2015.

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Quotes

Adolf Hitler: [about current TV shows] I'm glad that Goebbels doesn't see this anymore.

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Crazy Credits

During the first closing credits news reports about racism in Europe are showed.

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Connections

Edited from Downfall (2004)

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Soundtracks

Beach Parade
Written by Armando Trovajoli (as Armando Trovaioli)
(C) & (P) BPM Score Music Series

User Reviews

An Exercise in Challenging the Norm

I was traveling in Berlin a year ago when I first saw someone reading the eponymous book on which this movie is based. It stuck in a corner of my mind, so as my travels brought me back to Berlin and posters were advertising "Er ist wieder da", I had to give it a go.

The challenge, as with previous comedic movies themed around Hitler or the Nazi regime, is treading the line of reasonable taste and still being challenging enough to gain some relevance. One of the best known spoofs of the times, The Producers, uses it as a pivot to tell an engaging story about several memorable characters, so that works well. But here, there's little to pivot from, as Hitler, in realistic attire and demeanor, narrates his experience of present day Germany. So the twist, in part, is to make it a mockumentary in the spirit of Borat, see how people react to Hitler walking the streets and delivering his calculated critiques of the political system, the media - life in general. When it's not doing this, the film provides a decent dose of slapstick and irony to its more obviously scripted parts. Distinguishing one from the other is not really the key to enjoyment; the key lies in accepting this faithful representation of Hitler as a grotesquely humorous caricature of the symbolic power he holds over modern history in its most extreme moments. It was a bit harder than I thought it would be at the beginning, but one settles in well, after a while.

Narratively, not much really happens, other than the fact that the protagonist pops up in Berlin and gets acquainted to what the world is like nowadays. To help him in this, a few support characters act as guides; none believe him to be "the real thing", but rather a comedian or a satirist. So, in a sense, it's not really a very ambitious film, because the degree to which it engages with the moral dimension of the situation is limited. But it is ambitious in that it tries to keep a straight face even through the more ghastly, touch-and-go moments one would relate to a Hitler movie. It is at its best when it does this, but then the occasional piece of slapstick hits you in the face are you're back into the reality of a mildly amusing film that people have only heard of because it is polemic.

An important part in the whole thing coming together reasonably well is thanks to Oliver Masucci, who offers a strong performance to keep the "pots" in balance. Perhaps one could critique this in particular: the implication is that any piece of fiction told in the first person will make the viewer empathize with the character, hence humanizing the historical figure. But the historical figure itself is merely a representation of the man and "Er ist wieder da" tries to contextualize this - make away with what you know and imagine this were pre-1933. As mentioned, it doesn't go very deep with it and it would be quite problematic to do so. It's just a thought experiment which concludes in a slightly open and ambiguous fashion.

To address the real question though: did I laugh? Yes, I did. Did I enjoy it? Yes, I did. The film managed to create an amusing environment which plays off the character of Hitler, without making it the other way around (all the time). As for the big picture, I might not agree that the world is, collectively, where it was seventy years ago, in spite of the troubles we are currently facing, especially in Europe. Or that we would make the same mistakes all over again. But that's another story of me visiting Berlin.

Details

Official Sites:

Constantin Film [Germany] Official Facebook

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

8 October 2015 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Look Who's Back

Filming Locations:

Brandenburg an der Havel, Brandenburg, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

EUR2,956,960 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$25,513,752

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mythos Film, Constantin Film, Claussen Wöbke Putz Filmproduktion

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (5.1)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1