BEFORE: It's Monday, and I'm already exhausted, I wish cooler weather would hurry up and get here, because being hot all the time is so incredibly tiring. Maybe I didn't get enough sleep this weekend, I ended up working both Saturday AND Sunday, because I needed to cover someone else's shift at the theater, which I'm happy to do, really, but there's an effect on my sleep cycle if I work too many late nights and I don't catch up on sleep when the weekend comes. I'll try to look at the bright side, I got the extra shift and my co-workers maybe think of me as the person to call when their plans change or they get sick and they need someone to cover, so I've got that going for me, which is a plus. I was looking at seven shifts this month, but now it's up to eight.
Last night was a pretty quick shift, though - just one screening of a filmed version of a stage musical in Russian, and it was a "jukebox" musical based on the songs of a band called Sekret, or really it was spelled in that weird Russian alphabet, but it meant "Secret" and they were a Russian band in the 1980's that was a clone of the Beatles, like so many British bands were in the 1960's, but I guess because of the Iron Curtain they were lagging a couple decades behind. I remember Paul McCartney did a big concert in Moscow in the 1990's, so that tracks. The Russians probably thought his music was a rip-off of their local band, Sekret. Who knows?
Anyway, it was a chance for me to learn a little bit about the Russian "Fab Four", and come on, you know I'm talking about Maxim, Nikolai, Andrey and Aleksey, not John, Paul, George & Ringo. Nikolai played bass so he was clearly the "Paul" of the group, Maxim therefore was the "John", because they worked as co-writers and co-leaders. Andrey, clearly the "George", the quiet one who played obscure instruments, and Alexsey, the drummer, so he's a "Ringo" if ever there was one. And that means there was a Russian Yoko Ono, too and I guess that would be Maxim's second wife, actress Anne Banshchikova. But come on, you knew that, right? I'm just finding out about this band so late, I don't know if I can get over missing their ripped off music for like four decades. Maybe it's too late and I should just stick with the originals.
Anton Lesser carries over from "Disobedience".
FOLLOW-UP TO: "The Aftermath" (Movie #4,060)
THE PLOT: A German soldier tries to determine if the Dutch resistance has planted a spy to infiltrate the home of Kaiser Wilhelm in Holland during the onset of World War II, but falls for a young Jewish Dutch woman during his investigation.
AFTER: This is the third film in a row where someone being Jewish was an important part of the plot - Margaret's dad and grandmother in "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.", almost every character in "Disobedience" and here it's a young woman who works as a servant in the estate of Kaiser Wilhelm. This was not planned, it just kind of happened - and I wish I could say this was timed to some kind of Jewish holiday or something, but I don't think there are any major ones this month, and Rosh Hashanah doesn't start for another three weeks - October 2, for the record, but I should be on horror movies by then, so we'll just call this an early theme half-week.
But another thing these last couple films have in common is that they screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, which IS taking place right now, I believe. "Disobedience" had its world premiere at T.I.F.F. in September 2017, and tonight's film played at the 2016 edition of the same festival, in the Special Presentations section. Look, it's just NOT an easy festival to get into, OK? I mean, they screen a lot of films, and I went there in 1997 with a film I produced, but it's only gotten tougher to get selected because the major studios ALL have connections there and premiering there is a badge of honor and also a HUGE publicity coup, so every major film tries to get in there. But really, your film has to really be ABOUT something, they're quite picky about that.
Today's film is about Nazis in the early days of World War II, Captain Brandt is sent to take command of the security forces in the Netherlands that are protecting the deposed Kaiser Wilhelm II - honestly, I didn't realize that he was still alive during any part of World War II, but that's why I'm here, to learn these things. At this point he was in exile following Hitler's rise to power, but he apparently still had some symbolic importance to the people of Germany. When Nazi intelligence learns there may be an Allied spy nearby, or even an assassin, Brandt is sent to learn what he can about the situation and protect the former Emperor.
Brandt takes his duties seriously, but also immediately begins a sexual relationship with one of the female servants. And that's what made me remember another movie, "The Aftermath", one which also had a woman falling in love with a German soldier, but that was set just AFTER World War II, and this one is set during. A major difference, perhaps, because it's maybe easier to imagine a woman falling in love with a former Nazi rather than with a current one. Did I say "falling in love"? I'm not sure that applies because Brandt sort of forces himself on the servant girl, it may not be a violent rape but it's still someone in power forcing someone to have sex with him, and that ain't love. It shouldn't work, in other words, but then Mieke considers herself in a relationship with Brandt, ignoring, I guess, how the relationship started. I don't know, maybe just DON'T have sex with the Nazi? I guess she was afraid of being killed, but that doesn't make it right.
Things get more complicated when Brandt learns he's sleeping with a Jewish woman, and then they're bound to get even more complicated when he figures out who the undercover agent is. And then things get REALLY complicated when Hitler's main man Heinrich Himmler announces he is coming to visit the estate. The Kaiser naturally assumes that he's about to be welcomed back to Berlin to be part of the government, but come on, can you trust Hitler? Really, nothing could be further from the truth, if anything Himmler WANTS the Kaiser to believe this, but again, you just can't trust those Nazis.
For some reason, the Kaiser's wife, Hermine, exposes the affair between Captain Brandt and servant Mieke, perhaps she believes that the house should have strict rules, or she doesn't think that Nazis should be sleeping with her servants, or dating outside their class or religion or something. Germans, am I right? Very strict people, they like order and despise chaos. But the Kaiser doesn't care, he's in charge of his own house and he thinks the affair should continue, they just need to be more discreet about it. It turns out he fooled around quite a bit when he was young, and even fathered a couple illegitimate children before he settled down, so he gets it.
As the Gestapo closes in on the undercover agent, Brandt has a difficult decision to make - does he save the life of the woman he's in "love" with, or does he serve his country and allow her to be caught? Come on, is there ever any doubt about how this is going to play out? Love conquers all, or at least having a sexual relationship with a Jewish servant girl conquers all - and the fact that she's Jewish and out of his league and ALSO a spy? Damn, that just makes the whole thing hotter, doesn't it? Nah, he helps her escape and comes up with an alibi for why the Gestapo couldn't catch her, and figures he'll catch up with her in a few years when the war is over and things have settled a bit. And if not, well, they'll always have Utrecht and a shared love for the works of Friedrich Nietzsche, right?
Also starring Lily James (last seen in "Rebecca"), Jai Courtney (last seen in "The Suicide Squad"), Janet McTeer (last seen in "The Menu"), Christopher Plummer (last seen in "The Man Who Invented Christmas"), Eddie Marsan (last seen in "Fair Play"), Ben Daniels (last seen in "Conspiracy"), Mark Dexter (last seen in "The Invisible Woman"), Kris Cuppens, Lucas Tavernier (last seen in "The Pink Panther" (2006)), Aubeline Barbieux, Stephane Auberghen, Martin Swabey (last seen in "Mr. Nobody"), Martin Savage (last seen in "Judy"), Kurt Standaert, Stephanie Van Vyve, Daisy Boulton, Tom Magnus.
RATING: 6 out of 10 Wehrmacht soldiers
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