Mein Kampf

In 1910, young Adolf Hitler, aiming to conquer the world as a painter, is on his way from the provincial recesses of Austria to Vienna. He rents himself a room at a men’s hostel in the Leichengasse, "Cadaver Alley", and feverishly awaits the big day of his entrance examination for the Academy of the Fine Arts. He shares the rundown barrack with two Jewish men: the wily Bible hawker Shlomo Herzl and the kosher cook Lobkowitz, who claims to be God and has been known to cause miracles. Wise old Shlomo wants to write a book, but nobody thinks much of its title "Mein Leben" (My Life). They come up with "Mein Kampf". Hitler is also enthusiastic about it.

Shlomo, hospitable and good-natured, feels responsible for the impetuous Hitler and takes him under his wing. For Hitler, who vastly overestimates his artistic talent, the world falls apart when the Academy rejects him for the second time. And again it is good old Shlomo who hurries to bring Hitler back from the depths of his suicidal hopelessness. Hitler brazenly exploits the support offered by Shlomo, who cooks and washes up for him and even trims his droopy moustache. In return Hitler tries to seduce young Gretchen, Shlomo’s girlfriend. Ironically, it is Shlomo himself who recommends Hitler to try his luck in politics.

The film grotesque "Mein Kampf", based on George Tabori’s eponymous theatrical farce, is by no means a historical reconstruction of Hitler’s time in Vienna. Instead it is a timeless parable of good serving evil, in which the borders between reality and fiction are blurred.

Source: 60. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (Catalogue)