Max (film)

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Max
Directed by Menno Meyjes
Produced by Andrea Albert Damon Bryant
Written by Menno Meyjes
Starring John Cusack
Noah Taylor
Molly Parker
Ulrich Thomsen
and
Leelee Sobieski
Music by Dan Jones
Distributed by Lions Gate Films
Release date(s) 2002
Running time 106 min
Language English
IMDb profile

Max is a 2002 fictional drama film, that depicts a friendship between art dealer Max Rothman and a young painter, Adolf Hitler.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The film begins with the statistics of the number of Jewish people who served in the first World War, and how many Jewish (German) volunteered. Some veterans returned to wealth and family, as did Max Rothman, yet some returned to nothing but disgrace and eager vengeance, as did Hitler, the young artist. The signing of the Treaty of Versailles had an impact on the German citizens making them so disheartened, and in Hitler's and the newborn Nazi party's case, enraged. Max Rothman (Cusack), a fictional Munich art dealer, is a Jewish veteran of the Battle of Ypres, where he lost his arm, returns to Germany to attempt to capture the essence of war through art by opening a Modern Art gallery. Rothman is approached by a young Adolf Hitler (Taylor), who wishes to have his work shown. Rothman believes that Hitler has talent while lacking the inner feeling on becoming an artist. Hitler is also seen as a charity case to the wealthy Rothman, who believes there's an artist within the man even after a public denouncement of the Jewish faith. Rothman stills encourages him to delve deeper while at the same time Hitler is being urged by Captain Mayr (Thomsen) to go into politics and make a career out of rousing anti-Semitic propaganda. The film studies the questions of what could have been if Hitler had been more accepted in the art community and when it was that his views that became Nazi ideology began to take shape, while also studying the artistic and design implications of the Third Reich and how their visual appeal helped hypnotize the German people.

[edit] Finance

When director Menno Meyjes was shopping the script around Hollywood, he at first approached Amblin Entertainment for funding. Steven Spielberg, for whom Meyjes had produced the Oscar and BAFTA-nominated script adaptation of The Color Purple, told him that he felt the script for Max was well written but he would personally feel uncomfortable funding the film, so he encouraged him to make the film but without support of Amblin.

[edit] Reception

Critics were broadly very favorable. The Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw commented on the film's "clever and plausible propositions about career and destiny",[1], while The Observer's Mark Kermode described it as "Far from faultless...but praiseworthy for its chutzpah, this rumbustious affair provokes both serious consideration and light-hearted appreciation."[2] Roger Ebert for the Chicago Sun-Times remarked that "To ponder Hitler's early years with the knowledge of his later ones is to understand how life can play cosmic tricks with tragic results."[3] The film grossed $537,000 in 37 theaters during its 15-week American release.[4]

[edit] Cast

[edit] References

  1. ^ Max, review by Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, June 20, 2003
  2. ^ Führer in the frame, review by Mark Kermode, The Observer, June 22, 2003
  3. ^ Max, review by Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, January 24, 2003
  4. ^ Max, Box Office Mojo, accessed April 5, 2008