I was traveling in Berlin a year ago when I first saw someone reading the eponymous book on which this movie is based. It stuck in a corner of my mind, so as my travels brought me back to Berlin and posters were advertising "Er ist wieder da", I had to give it a go.

The challenge, as with previous comedic movies themed around Hitler or the Nazi regime, is treading the line of reasonable taste and still being challenging enough to gain some relevance. One of the best known spoofs of the times, The Producers, uses it as a pivot to tell an engaging story about several memorable characters, so that works well. But here, there's little to pivot from, as Hitler, in realistic attire and demeanor, narrates his experience of present day Germany. So the twist, in part, is to make it a mockumentary in the spirit of Borat, see how people react to Hitler walking the streets and delivering his calculated critiques of the political system, the media - life in general. When it's not doing this, the film provides a decent dose of slapstick and irony to its more obviously scripted parts. Distinguishing one from the other is not really the key to enjoyment; the key lies in accepting this faithful representation of Hitler as a grotesquely humorous caricature of the symbolic power he holds over modern history in its most extreme moments. It was a bit harder than I thought it would be at the beginning, but one settles in well, after a while.

Narratively, not much really happens, other than the fact that the protagonist pops up in Berlin and gets acquainted to what the world is like nowadays. To help him in this, a few support characters act as guides; none believe him to be "the real thing", but rather a comedian or a satirist. So, in a sense, it's not really a very ambitious film, because the degree to which it engages with the moral dimension of the situation is limited. But it is ambitious in that it tries to keep a straight face even through the more ghastly, touch-and-go moments one would relate to a Hitler movie. It is at its best when it does this, but then the occasional piece of slapstick hits you in the face are you're back into the reality of a mildly amusing film that people have only heard of because it is polemic.

An important part in the whole thing coming together reasonably well is thanks to Oliver Masucci, who offers a strong performance to keep the "pots" in balance. Perhaps one could critique this in particular: the implication is that any piece of fiction told in the first person will make the viewer empathize with the character, hence humanizing the historical figure. But the historical figure itself is merely a representation of the man and "Er ist wieder da" tries to contextualize this - make away with what you know and imagine this were pre-1933. As mentioned, it doesn't go very deep with it and it would be quite problematic to do so. It's just a thought experiment which concludes in a slightly open and ambiguous fashion.

To address the real question though: did I laugh? Yes, I did. Did I enjoy it? Yes, I did. The film managed to create an amusing environment which plays off the character of Hitler, without making it the other way around (all the time). As for the big picture, I might not agree that the world is, collectively, where it was seventy years ago, in spite of the troubles we are currently facing, especially in Europe. Or that we would make the same mistakes all over again. But that's another story of me visiting Berlin.

"Er ist wieder da" is the newest movie by writer and director David Wnendt and just like his last one "Feuchtgebiete", it is based on a novel. It's Wnendt's 3rd pretty well-known movie and just like with the one I already mentioned and with "Kriegerin", he cast a fairly unknown actor as the lead actor again. I am not aware with Oliver Masucci, but according to his filmography he has not been in movies/television since 2011. Still, he did a pretty good job here. As the film continues during its almost 2 hours, it becomes more and more dramatic while still containing comedy elements. I am not saying it was a failure dramatically as there is an interesting take on our society today and also on the quality of German television at this point that is very critical and inspires you to think. However, I believe this film works best during the funny parts.

For example, Hitler hanging out all day long in paper stores or him mistaking "Arbeitslage" für "Arbeitslager" was hilarious. And Christoph Maria Herbst imitating the famous meltdown by Hitler from "Der Untergang" was just priceless. I also found the quote funny that "Jews" are not funny and should not be part of the comedy program/movie, which was quite an interesting reference in terms of us actually watching the movie and they included it the very same moment they criticized it allegedly. Yes this is certainly a film which is not particularly politically correct, not to say not politically correct at all. Just remember the racist jokes scene. Still, this is exactly my kind of humor and I enjoyed most of the comedy in here. However, I felt that some of the dramatic sequences lacked focus or just relevance other than making this film look more significant than it actually was. I am not sure why these were included. The are so many serious German films about Nazis, not only historical ones, so it was really not too necessary to add this one to the list. I would have preferred a 100% comedy movie. And I did not like the ending at all, possibly the weakest part of the film. It felt like Wnendt/Vermes wanted to go out on a boom, but it was just a big mess in my opinion with the boundaries between reality and fiction blurring more and more until they disappear to the audience. Not very convincing here. Too smart for its own good. Still, as a whole, this was a good film, entertaining 115 minutes and I recommend it. If you like it, also make sure to check out Helge Schneider's Hitler film. Very funny as well.

He's back .. on the big and small screen that is. Hitler will always be a (dark) part of German History. And a book was released a while ago, that had him coming back, seeing what the world became after he went away. Since I haven't read the book, although it was highly suggested to me by a friend, I cannot comment on what is missing from the book.

What I can say is that it looks like the movie is 50 % book related material and 50 % "Borat" style material. What do I mean by the latter? Hitler is going out on the streets, meeting real people and talking to them. Reactions there seem to be real, as the end credits show, when he is driving through Berlin and people wave at him, chuckle and think it's funny. Unfortunately right now, the situation in Germany doesn't seem as funny and people from the right wing win a lot of people over who are frustrated with the state of politics today ... not thinking clearly and spewing hate. Something that is very obvious in the movie too.

Is that funny or entertaining? That depends on the viewer ...