It’s August 2011 and,
on a patch of wasteland somewhere in Berlin, a disoriented Adolf Hitler is just
waking up, dressed in full uniform and with his last memories being of sitting
with Eva Braun in the Führerbunker
and showing her his gun. He also has an
odd headache in his temple. As the back
cover of Look Who’s Back says, “He’s
back…and he’s Führious.”
Look
Who’s Back was a surprise bestseller for author
Timur Vermes in Germany, selling 1.5 million copies. It’s a satire on the media, both print and
screen, and on contemporary German politics (although the point of the satire
could be equally applied to many Western democracies).
As Hitler emerges from his 65 years or so
of hibernation, he is, not unnaturally, assumed to be a Hitler impersonator
and, owing to the fact that he is, actually, the real McCoy, a brilliant
impersonator at that. He quickly
attracts the attention of the producers of a sketch show presented by a Turkish
immigrant and is given a guest slot. His
rants, perceived to be witty commentary on modern Germany, are an instant hit
and his popularity goes from strength to strength, although his insistence on
remaining in character causes some unease and frustration.
Much of the comedy derives from the belief
of the TV executives that Hitler’s rants about immigrants, modern Germany and
his plans for the future are actually clever skewerings of those who actually
do think that way. One highly effective
episode has Hitler doorstepping the HQ of a German far-right political party
and, by raging at the spotty youth who works there and its corpulent and
ineffectual leader, unintentionally ridiculing it. His bosses at the TV company are delighted
both at his success and at the controversy he stirs up, including some who
believe he is a Jewish comedian, sending Hitler up with his bizarre
perorations, in which he declaims with Messianic fervour before concluding on a
truly banal note.
The venality and ingratiating nature of
contemporary politicians also come in for some attention from the author. Following a hilarious TV interview with a
leading Green politician, Hitler is amused (but not surprised) to find himself
being wooed by all the major German parties.
His views may be distasteful but he is popular after all.
One of the issues with Look Who’s Back is the slightly scattergun approach to its
satirical targets. Is Mr Vermes going
after the media (there is a suitably bilious portrayal of Bild, the influential tabloid), the politicians, the German
far-right, Hitler himself or modern German society? It’s a little unfocused and, I believe,
suffers as a result. At times, it’s
unclear who we’re supposed to be laughing at.
This problem is most acute in the depiction
of Hitler himself. Far from a monster,
he comes across as a curmudgeonly and slightly loopy grandfather type, bemused
by the new Germany and bewildered by the sight of women clearing up after their
dogs with plastic bags and teenagers glued to their phones. In particular, Vermes struggles with the
elephant in the room in any portrayal of Hitler - the Holocaust. He attempts to deal with this by creating a
running motif of an exchange between the TV people and Hitler, using the
phrase, “The Jews are no laughing matter.”
In the eyes of the TV people, this indicates that you shouldn’t joke
about the Holocaust. Hitler takes it to
mean that the Jews are a serious problem.
Other than this, though, the author makes
as few references to Hitler’s anti-Semitism as he feels he can get away with,
thereby reducing further the evil in his character and implicitly emphasising his
love of animals and the care he shows his assistants. This underplaying of the Holocaust is
uncomfortably shown in an episode where Hitler’s secretary resigns, having been
told by her grandmother of how most of her family died in the camps. On hearing this, Hitler goes to visit the old
lady where, it appears, all it takes to make her change her mind about him are
a few compliments.
Overall, Look Who’s Back is an intriguing but patchy satire. I can see why it would have been so popular
and controversial in Germany where there are laws on the use of Nazi symbols
and the way in which the Nazis and the Holocaust are portrayed but, to this British
reader, it wasn’t shocking. Although
there are some very funny patches, the plot never really develops much beyond a
series of confrontations between Hitler and people who believe he’s an impersonator
and the ending is anti-climactic, trailing off limply. In summary, it was a little bit bland and a
bit frustrating.
No comments:
Post a Comment