Review of Max (2000) by Uh?..... . — 21 Jan 2007

It is easy, I think, to assume that history turns on the great events. And, of course, it does in some ways. However, in others, the smallest thing can make a difference that we will never comprehend. In a discussion I'm having elsewhere on how someone from the future might prevent 9/11, someone suggested strangling Osama bin Laden in his cradle. However, is it not at least equally likely that the effect it would have would be to radicalize his primarly America-friendly family?

The Max Rothman imagined for this film is such a whisper of fate. We cannot know that, had Hitler had a Jewish art dealer willing and able to exhibit his work, World War II and the Holocaust might not have happened. Certainly the peace forged by the Versailles Treaty could not have held. However, perhaps a Hitler bringing his vision of a new Germany paired with Rothman's distaste for the war that cost his arm (and I think we can forgive the occasional glimpse of Cusack's) might have forged a different peace without the unfathomable loss of life.

And, of course, Hitler in this brought forth the demise of his own dreams. His words inspired it, not to give too much away. The Hitler we see here--a fictionalized one, naturally--is torn between the betrayal the war leaves in him and the love of art that is simply part of who he is.

I hadn't heard of this movie until I came across it in previously viewed at Blockbuster some years past. In fact, I bought [i]Chicago[/i]--another movie I hadn't yet seen--instead. I don't regret that; I really like [i]Chicago[/i]. Certainly it's a better movie than this to just play for the noise! However, it stuck in my head some, and when I saw it used at Orca this week, I grabbed for it. It's John Cusack and Hitler!

The Hitler here is, as John Cusack says in the interviews, very human. He [i]looks[/i] more like a young Hitler than I think we're really able to take. (It should be noted that Hitler, at this point, actually had a handlebar moustache--or, as Gwen puts it, his moustache got less stupid-looking over the years!) We understand how madly he wants people to like his work. We understand the frustration. This is a man living in barracks simply because there's nowhere else to live.

We all know this cannot have a happy ending without rewriting history. Hitler can't be a successful artist. Something must go wrong. However, I think we are left with the slightest hint that what went wrong was history, and we might instead have had a fascinatingly avant garde artist. (I don't believe it's possible. But isn't it nice to think it was?).

Oh, and the woman playing Mrs. Rothman, Molly Parker, also played the astronaut's sister in [i]Men With Brooms[/i]. And people wonder why I'm so good at the Kevin Bacon game!