Will the real Adolf Hitler please stand up?

Set in South America in the early 1960s, the new Columbia/Polish/Israeli film My Neighbour Adolf is a remarkable blend of comedy, drama, and a touch of tragedy.
Based on a true story, the film uses chess as a metaphor to portray the ongoing feud between two surly neighbours living in a rural Columbian backwater.
Maren Polsky (David Hayman) is a Holocaust survivor convinced Adolf Hitler is still alive and has moved in next door to him.
The new neighbour Herman Herzog (superbly played by the enigmatic Udo Kier), has many of Hitler’s attributes – he is of similar height and build, left-handed, dislikes smoking, paints regularly and has a fierce temper.
Sporting a full ‘Leo Tolstoy’ beard, Herman could indeed be mistaken for an older Hitler and Polsky becomes so obsessed with the idea he invests in a new SLR camera, complete with telephoto lens, to surreptitiously photograph his neighbour.
He then takes the photos to the Israeli Ministry in the city to report his suspicions.
Despite a cool reception this does not deter Polsky from continuing his vendetta, especially when Herman (or is it Hitler?) receives strange visits in the night from dark-suited men looking remarkably like Gestapo officials.
Herman even has a German Shepherd dog (the same as Hitler) that’s first act is to cross into Polsky’s garden and defecate on his precious flowers, thus igniting even more hostility.
Tempers cool somewhat though when Polsky visits Herman when he is playing chess in his garden and sarcastically suggests a few clever moves for check mate.
Astounded, Herman suggests he join him for a game one day and a sort of truce ensues between the two combatants.
As a former chess expert, Polsky even remembers meeting the real Adolf Hitler at a chess championship in Berlin in 1934 when he was a child; recalling he would never forget ‘those cold blue eyes’.
As the film progresses, the tension intensifies, especially when the authorities finally become more interested in ‘Herr Herman’, providing a fascinating and dramatic ending.
My Neighbour Adolf is showing at Luna Leederville from April 27, 2023.

By Mike Peeters