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MAX
There
was a time when Adolph Hitler was not a monster. That sentence in
itself reminds us that the worst evil done in the world has been
done by people very like us. ?There but for the grace of God . .
.? That is something we should always keep in mind. We are always
as near to being a monster as we are to being a saint.
Review by Darrel Manson
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CREDITS
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Directed
by Menno Meyjes
Screenplay
by Menno Meyjes
John Cusack .... Max Rothman
Noah Taylor .... Adolf Hitler
Leelee Sobieski .... Liselore Von Peltz
Molly Parker (I) .... Nina Rothman
Ulrich Thomsen .... Captain Mayr
David Horovitch .... Max's Father
Janet Suzman .... Max's Mother
András Stohl .... NCO
John Grillo .... Nina's Father
Anna Nygh .... Nina's Mother
Krisztián Kolovratnik .... Nina's Brother
Peter Capaldi .... David Cohn
Yuliya Vysotskaya .... Hildegard
János Kulka .... Mr. Epp
Katalin Pálfy .... Mrs. Epp
Kevin McKidd .... George Grosz
Heather Cameron .... Ada Rothman
Joel Pitts .... Paul Rothman
Tamás Lengyel .... Franz
Attila Arpa .... Wilhelm
Daisy Haggard .... Heidi
Produced
by
Sidney Blumenthal .... associate producer
John Cusack .... associate producer
Jonathan Debin .... executive producer
Andras Hamori .... producer
François Ivernel .... executive producer
Lacia Kornylo .... associate producer
Cameron McCracken .... executive producer
Tom Ortenberg .... executive producer
Original Music by Dan Jones
Cinematography by Lajos Koltai
Film Editing by Chris Wyatt
Casting by Mali Finn and Nina Gold
Production Design by Ben van Os
Art Direction by Tibor Lázár
Set Decoration by Ágnes Menyhárt
Costume Design by Dien van Straalen
MPAA:
Rated R for language.
Runtime: 106 min
For rating reasons, go to FILMRATINGS.COM,
and MPAA.ORG.
Parents, please refer to PARENTALGUIDE.ORG
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TRAILERS
AND CLIPS
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POSTER
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No
available poster as of January 10,2003
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AVAILABILITY
ON VIDEO AND DVD
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SYNOPSIS
Art
+ Politics = Power
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 Munich,1918:
In a world reeling from World War One and the shock of the new, everyone's
mind is on the future. It is a time of high-octane debate and dreams
of drastic change, a time when the lines between art, politics and
personal beliefs have been blurred beyond reckoning. The only question
that remains is this: now what? In what direction will things turn
next?
For Max Rothman (JOHN CUSACK), a soldier just returned from the Great
War, the present has certainly turned out radically different from
what he imagined. He returned from the war, one of the walking wounded,
a damaged man trying to sort out his life. Once a promising artist,
he lost his right arm and with it, his ability to paint. Yet the future
still draws Max like a magnet, fueled by the restlessness, typified
by the birth of modernism. Now, he opens up what quickly becomes an
acclaimed art gallery. Also caught in the Post-War struggle are his
beautiful wife (MOLLY PARKER) and children, a once picturesque family,
now torn by uncertainty and Max's infatuation with his alluring artistic
mistress (LEELEE SOBIESKI).
But then, at a celebratory party for the opening of his new show,
Max meets another man interested in the future: a fellow war veteran
and aspiring painter, a man with no family, no home and no friends.
His name: Adolf Hitler (NOAH TAYLOR), and his decision to transfer
his creative talents to politics, where at last he finds an outlet
for his raw beliefs, sets into motion the most catastrophic period
of the 20th century.
From Oscar-nominated screenwriter Menno Meyjes ("The Color Purple")
comes MAX, a story of two unlikely friends facing an uncertain future
and one's fateful decision to embrace a nightmare vision of evil.
Deeply unsettling, defiantly humorous and ultimately, tragically moving,
MAX is more historical fable than straight-ahead historical drama
-- a tale that careens through art, politics, love, hope, intolerance,
obsession and destructive malevolence to provide an original and intimate
portrait of a major turning point in modern history.
MAX is the directorial debut of Menno Meyjes, who also wrote the screenplay.
The film is produced by Andras Hamori ("Sunshine," "The Sweet Hereafter,"
"existenz").
"Meyjes mostly wanted Max Rothman to exist in a kind of state of timelessness
- to look, sound and feel as if he could exist just as easily in the
21st century, as if his idealism and energy could be part of today's
culture?"
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REVIEW
by
DARREL MANSON
Pastor,
Artesia Christian Church, Artesia, CA
http://netministries.org/see/churches/ch01198
Darrel
has an incredible love and interest in the cinematic arts. His reviews
usually include independent and significantly important film.
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There
was a time when Adolph Hitler was not a monster. That sentence in
itself reminds us that the worst evil done in the world has been done
by people very like us. ?There but for the grace of God . . .? That
is something we should always keep in mind. We are always as near
to being a monster as we are to being a saint.
 Max
is the story of Adolph Hitler after World War I as a veteran and struggling
artist in a defeated Germany. He meets Max Rothman, also a veteran
of the War (both he and Hitler were at the Third Battle of Ypres),
who is an art dealer and encourages Hitler to ?go deeper? with his
art. At the same time, Hitler is being recruited by Captain Meyr as
a rabble-rousing speaker for nationalism and anti-Semitism. Meyr also
wants Hitler to "go deeper" into his rage. Will art or politics win
his soul? Or will he find a way to join them?
Meyr speaks of the nation being on the edge of a knife; it could go
either to the left or to the right. We are to see Hitler also being
on a knife's edge and could go either way as he comes under the influence
of these two men. The movie ends with a sense that if things had happened
just a little bit differently, perhaps millions of people wouldn't
have died. That certainly trivializes the evil that was to come.
 Noah
Taylor does make an interesting Hitler. John Cusack's Rothman is very
much his antithesis. Hitler is something of a puritan; he doesn't
smoke, drink or run around with women. Rothman chain-smokes, often
drinks and has a mistress. Rothman has returned from the War without
an arm, but still has his family, business, wealth, and connections.
Hitler has nothing. Hitler has dreams of being an artist, but not
the artist's soul. Rothman has the soul, but without his right arm
doesn't have the physical ability. Rothman is self-assured. Hitler
is a pathetic loser who takes offense easily. And of course the obvious
distinction that Rothman is a Jew.
 It
is hard to imagine a person as pathetic as Hitler is portrayed in
Max gaining the power he eventually achieved. Even when we see his
rage coming out, he seems no more than a puppet for Captain Meyr.
There has certainly been controversy over Max. Some Jewish groups
denounced the film for portraying Hitler as a sympathetic person.
This was before they saw the film, and they have since relented and
apologized. In fact, Hitler isn't sympathetic. We know that Rothman's
main feeling toward him is pity, with perhaps a bit of bourgeois guilt.
It is easy to see why Hitler in this film has no friends; there's
not much to like in his insecurity and anger.
 There
is also not much insight into how the pain and hatred in him grow
into the man who did indeed become one of the great monsters of world
history. This is what causes my disappointment with the film. To be
sure, we all have times when we are on the knife's edge and can go
one way or the other. No doubt there were numerous such times in Hitler's
life, just as there are in ours. But the ending leaves the impression
that this moment in his life is decisive in moving him along the road
to evil, and it is almost an accident that instead of becoming a genocidal
maniac, he could just as easily channeled his rage into magnificent
art.
I would still like to see a film that explores the forces that transformed
a would-be artist into murderer. Max, unfortunately, is not that film. |
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PHOTOS
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Max ? 2002
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