if Hitler was alive...

Rating: 8/10 (3 January 2020)

This film could not have premiered one moment before now, on the 1st of January 2020 when it actually did in the United Kingdom, anyway thanks to its perplexing subject jagged with almost blasphemous jokes, candid characters and vital lessons.
Maori/Jewish director, Taika Waititi continues to amaze us now with at least about 35% (that being Disney) of the industry backing him. Not to take any credit away from him or being jealous at all (well...maybe the latter)
Titular character Jojo Betzler (newcomer Roman Griffin Davis), aged very young when he joins the Hitlerjugend which seems like a totally fantastic and undoubtedly the most patriotic experience according to any brainwashed ten-year old living in nazi Germany at the time of WWII. Not far off into the movie we are to realize, as well as Jojo's comrades are that he is not the most suitable person to cue in line and become the Fuhrer's best bodyguard thanks to an unfortunate incident involving an innocent little rabbit (hence the name Rabbit) followed by an even more unfortunate incident with a hand grenade. Luckily, Jojo has the best medical experts at hand and his biggest idol available for him drawn straight out of his imagination - loosely based on reality, of course - none other but the almighty Adolf himself (played comedically by Waititi himself) who is never shy to put our little friend's thoughts back on track with whatever means necessary while the actor/director/writer also does not refrain from ridiculing every possible aspect of the late leader of the Aryan nation. When sticking to more realistic people Jojo is being tutored by his wonderful mother (Scarlett Johansson single-handedly) about love and all good things and by war-crazed amicable veteran Cpt. Klenzendorf (always amusing Sam Rockwell) about...well, not so sure how to address that. Things start to ravel when he discovers a teenage Jewish girl, named Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie) is hiding behind the walls of their very house and a curious relationship starts to form between the kids. As Jojo learns more about the real world and starts suffering from butterflies in his tummy his faith in the greatest nation and its lunatic leader begins to fade away.
You may think it feels a bit like Roberto Benigni's emotional rollercoaster, 'La Vita e Bella' and you are not the only one but even if it does so we certainly can not blame anyone for having an influence on them especially when the end-product is so perfectly orchestrated with freshened up humour and parodic characters in tragic moments seasoned with trivial but gripping facts from the darkest of hours.
Professionally crafted elements decorate the entire 108 minutes of the film. We shall remain stunned by the glorious - well from the eyelevel of a child, anyway - shots ever so vibrant in colours (less so towards the end signifying the troubling times) delivered by Romanian cinematographer Mihai Malaimare Jr and by tunes like the good old 'Komm, gib mir deine Hand' by ... wait, what? The Beatles?! Yes, they did that, too. Them buggers. The German version of 'I wanna hold your hand' by England's greatest band respectively, complements the archive footages of chaos fittingly along with David Bowie's 'Helden' as well as many others are doing their part and lifting the spirit with much necessity as we try not to choke on tears crashing down our cheeks witnessing all the innocent and the not so innocent bloodshed the craziness claimed during humanities most desperate times. A little reminder from Waititi for the start of the new decade to be a bit nicer to our fellow comrades, withstand oncoming waves together and especially not to fall behind manifestos so we could perhaps evade the recurring arms of history.
Verdict:8/10
Team Marvel assembled their best and most capable with added charm from the newly appointed 11 year-old superhero to pull the Rabbit out of the hat just in time for this year's award gala. Well, they did it f*ing brilliant