The Banality of Evil

Rating: 9/10 (30 March 2020)

Taika Waititi navigates across the dark and sensitive coast line of arguably the world's biggest tragedy with a compass of heartfelt and humanitarian grace, gently breezed by the wind of palpable yet fallible characters of which turn a treacherous stormy night into an all but too enjoyable voyage.
The feather-weight touches from Scarlett Johansson outstanding performance as the motherly embodiment of a bitter sweet symphony, as she finds the star in the darkest of nights, sail the film steady - whilst Davis fills the screen with his aptly bouncing personality. McKenzie is, as ever, posthumously mature beyond her years and dangerously talented.
As with all of Waititi's masterpieces, the comedy becomes the catalyst for the heartbreak, which throughout all of his cinema, from Hunt for the Wilderpeople to even Ragnarok, drops like a hammer right through the heart it was previously coaxing. Such tragedy, wrapped in the warm layer of such lovable character-driven comedy, is a honey-pot of emotion that makes the film enchanting regardless of the gravity of its context.
Yet, taken into context, it indeed ascends into something timeless.
Although, in my opinion, it is not Waititi's best work and the film is far from perfect - with it's overall aesthetic residing more as a cheese toastie instead of a filet mignon - Waititi prises open the doorway to our darkest demons, endorsing and encouraging us, like we all should from studying history, to anachronistically learn from the past... and learn that, with just enough cheese, even Hitler can be funny.