Can laughing at something, perhaps just at the absurdity of it, and making light of the same thing be mutually exclusive? That is, to ask, are there some things that you just shouldn’t joke about? How lightly do you have to tread around certain subjects so that there is no chance of being misconstrued? I’m not asking this in the name of decrying or defending political correctness. Racist and Anti-Semitic jokes are abhorrent but I rarely mind if people make them because it just reveals to me right off that I’m dealing with a cunt. It saves having to do the work and being taken by surprise later down the road.

Who though is allowed to write and/or present the narrative on certain things? I went a few years back to the Met to see The Death of Klinghoffer, an opera based on the terrorist hijacking of a cruise ship in the Mediterranean. There have been complaints since it was first presented that nobody had any business at all writing the opera in a sense that humanized — not sympathized but humanized — the Palestinians that killed Leon Klinghoffer by telling how they had become radicalized. The simple act of presenting an alternative side to the story was labeled as an attack on all Jews around the world. It doesn’t matter if I agree or disagree. I mention this just as an example of how their are “allowed” narratives and those that are supposed to be silenced in the name of… in the name of what? You can decide that for your self too.

I do vaguely remember a similar brouhaha when Look Who’s Back, the book that this film is based on was published. I didn’t know it had been adapted to film but I do recall that quite a few people were very vocal about labeling the book to be an outrage, and in very, very poor taste. Having not read it I’m just going to say that I don’t believe the film is in bad taste. It is very dark humor, for certain but it is not in bad taste. You’d have to go a lot further in this day and age to call anything inappropriate. Our way of life itself could be called inappropriate, but that’s another story for another time. For now, let’s just say Look Who’s Back is an update of Georges Santayana’s dire warning about repeating history.

And for the record, I don’t believe in sacred cows. You are allowed to laugh at any fucking thing in the right context. Just don’t make Racist or Anti-Semitic jokes around me, nor misogynist or homophobic jokes. They’re not fucking funny and I will hurt your feelings. It’s not about political correctness. It’s about you, and I’ll say this again, being a cunt. Shut up. Okay? That said…

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“That’s it! Fate! Destiny! Who else would destiny have brought back?” ~ Adolph Hitler, having finally come to the realization that he has been somehow transported ahead to the future. Who else, indeed? This single line foreshadows the thematic premise of the rest of the film.

The newly resurrected Hitler is led around Germany in what quickly becomes a media/social media feeding frenzy. Most people assume that he is a performance artist or comedian gone deep into his role and play it accordingly. The majority of people, having been surviving on television fare of cooking shows and Jackass type series and shock humor are eager to jump aboard the new old sensation. Many are quick to take the bait on conversations about the emptiness of programming and ills that have fallen their society. More observe that “he says whats on his mind” and an “it’s funny cuz it’s true” messaging. He is brought around doing “man on the street” Q&A sessions about the state of the state. And what is wrong with Germany?

There is too much political correctness. You can’t speak your mind about social problems.

Regular working folks have no voice in democracy.

Elections are rigged.

Germany is being given away to immigrants.

German culture and values are disappearing. The purity of the German people is compromised.

“I am seeing an anger in the German people that is the same as in 1930,” Hitler comments. I didn’t know until after watching the movie that many of the interviews were real people chosen at random in the Sasha Baron Cohen/Borat style. It only took a chance opportunity to start up with the scapegoating and racism. These are real people saying these things. Sound familiar? We just elected a president in 2016 who said the same things. This film does pre-date Trump announcing his candidacy by the way, but we know that the problem didn’t start with Trump. It created Trump.

The media continues to push him on in their ratings-grabs and the quest for most views on social media. Hitler’s popularity continues to skyrocket. The closest he comes to losing it all is when footage appears of him shooting a terrier.

“The viewer will forgive nearly anything, but killing a little dog… The German soul will not forgive it” ~ network owner when firing the executive producer whom Hitler has already referred to as Leni Riefenstahl and a staffer has called Frau Goebbels. The irony that the footage of him killing a dog is what knocks Hitler from the pedestal, the German soul indeed but they had no issues with the talk about immigrants etc. But of course, he’s not down for good. As he says later, “You can’t get rid of me. You see. I’m a part of you.”

And that’s the point really, the dishonesty that you can suppress hardwired hatred by not talking about it while it’s being expressed in myriad ways while you condemn one facet of it.

There’s the TV host expressing concern about crossing lines of decency by putting Hitler on as a big joke, and meanwhile he’s donning blackface for his show.

Hitler goes and meets with a White Power group who is producing a National Socialist Vegan cooking show. It could be considered a stab at strident animal rights activism, but it seems more a shot at the tendency of people to militarize pretty much anything. Hitler, by the way, has already expressed a strong distaste for programming like cooking shows and believes that television, the greatest propaganda took, is used merely as a vehicle for emptiness and depravity. Mostly though the film is about socio-political doublespeak that has rendered social dialogue irrelevant.

“We could use more democracy, so that someone can lay down the law.” ~ random activist talking to Hitler on the street.

There are so many clever scenes, one of which struck home hard. It’s a recreation of the famous film scene of the Hitler’s Reichstag meeting in which he kicks most of the people out of the office so he can rail at his top officers about incompetency and disloyalty. This is played out with a egomaniac television executive and his staff. Many of us are so desperate to protect our standings in our world, no matter how stupid our world is. You can be claw your way up through the people around you to stand at the top of a shit heap, but it’s still just a shit heap.

At the core of everything though is that line mentioned earlier, that you can’t get rid of something that’s part of you. It would be like removing a vital organ or an amputation. You can’t hide from who you are. That’s not to say that everyone gives into it, thank God or whomever, but it’s there. It’s part of who we are as a people. How many times have we witnessed hate crimes and some politician or another gets on television and swears that “THIS IS NOT WHO WE ARE!”

Bullshit. It’s exactly who we are.

Look Who’s Back ends with news footage of the National Front and assorted White Power groups rallying and rioting in Germany, Austria, France, Poland, Sweden and probably a few more. It’s an obvious message certainly but the film is so bloody clever I have to recommend it. And yes, I laughed nearly to tears at parts of it. I’m not ashamed of that. Laughter is what I’ve got to face it. That’s the long and short of it. We are ridiculous.