Max

"Art + Politics = Power"

Jun 20 2003 R 1h 46m
Drama, War

In 1918, a young, disillusioned Adolf Hitler strikes up a friendship with a Jewish art dealer while weighing a life of passion for art vs. talent at politics

Plot

Munich, 1918. German-Jew Max Rothman has returned to much of his pre-war life which includes to his wife Nina and their two children, to his mistress Liselore von Peltz, and to his work as an art dealer. He has however not returned to being an aspiring painter as he lost his dominant right arm during the war. He is approached by an aspiring painter, a thirty-year old Austrian war veteran named Adolf Hitler, who wants him to show his works. Although he doesn't think the paintings are all that original and he doesn't really like Hitler as a person, Rothman takes Hitler under his wings if only because of their camaraderie of being war veterans, and knowing that Hitler had nothing and no one to come back to after the war unlike himself. Rothman believes that Hitler has promise if only he can find his original artistic point of view. In part out of need for money, Hitler, on the urging of Captain Karl Mayr, agrees to work for the army as a political spokesman in anti-Semitic propaganda. Slowly, Hitler's view becomes a holistic one of a new world, where he begins to meld his art and politics. Rothman becomes excited about Hitler's artistic viewpoint, despite its anti-Semitic bent. The question becomes if the sentiments behind the view will take over its artistic merit.

Written by

Menno Meyjes

Directed by

Menno Meyjes

Production Countries

Canada, Hungary, United Kingdom

Production Companies

Pathé Pictures International, Neue Bioskop Film, Natural Nylon II, Aconit Pictures, H2O Motion Pictures, Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit (CPTC), JAP Films, Alliance Atlantis Communications, Film Council, AAMPI Inc.

Languages

English

Awards

3 wins & 5 nominations

Scores
# of Votes
8,859
Average Rating
6.4 out of 10
Metascore
56
Popularity
NA