Even if devilishly satirical or spectacularly mounted, fiction inspired by real-life events runs the risk of coming across as a tool to rewrite history. Laden with moral deliberations, films like Jojo Rabbit or the series Hunters relook at events set during and after World War II and convince viewers to believe whatever the narrative suggests.
In Jojo Rabbit, where a young German boy with Adolf Hitler as an imaginary friend, believes it’s his duty to eliminate Jews, who are the lowest form of life, and in Hunters, a bunch of Jews search former Nazis to deliver the justice of 11 million of their lost brethren. The message is simple—Nazis aren’t good and getting rid of former Nazis in one way or the other is fine. At the same time, a second, and seemingly more potent message, lurks in the background. The satirical Jojo Rabbit and the Quentin Tarantinoesque revenge drama Hunters take things to a point where a small part of the viewers’ subconscious mind ends up sympathising with the bad guys because it questions the hero’s motivation.
In 2004, the German film Der Untergang was criticised for its humanistic portrayal of Hitler during his final days. Today, it’s best known for a scene where a furious Hitler lashes out at his generals spawning a series of funny internet videos, but Der Untergang did make people look at Hitler in a new light as the doomed hero.
The past needs to be re-examined but does one need to question the degree or the extent of analytic thought that is applied in the process? In A Chequered Brilliance: The Many Lives of Krishna Menon, Jairam Ramesh presents a new reading of the man accused of undermining intelligence reports dating back to 1955 that resulted in the 1962 Sino-India war. The way the past is being looked at in this day and age, it wouldn’t be surprising if in a few years studying Menon without mentioning the Sino-India war becomes acceptable. Analysis can’t change the past but it can alter the perception.
Is it then possible that such reinterpretation of the past could make the reason why we question certain actions of the past disappear? Jojo Rabbit addresses the young but almost all the adults in the film are overgrown children, and in Hunters, adults give in to child-like desires. Debating history, like questioning the past, is fine too but it’s a whole different ballgame if you ask the wrong questions.
Gautam Chintamani
Film historian and bestselling author gautam@chintamani.org