George, so glad you like it.
Man: Rothman?
Who's this Rothman?
Max Rothman.
Isn't his father in shoes?
Think so.
Shoes or frocks.
Shoes, frocks, or stocks.
The Duke of Westminster
used to own a spaniel called Jew,
except when his Rothschild banker came over.
Then they called him Joe.
Ooh! Champagne!
Why are you wasting this divine table on these swine?
Max: Insecurity, i suppose.
Yeah, well, insecurity is the mother of an overdraft.
Man: Hello. George Grosz.
I hear the sound of new money.
I'm for sale.
I may pay for this evening yet.
Come.
Come, come.
Take care of Grosz for me, will you?
George.
George, a moment.
Mr. epp.
Oh.
Mrs. Epp, I think Max
would like a quick word with you.
George, do you want a drink?
Hello, hello.
So nice to see you. - Hello.
I have a Monet downstairs.
Well, I thought this might be a tad too modern for you.
Are you questioning my modernity?
It always reminds me of a gardening catalogue.
Still, maybe you'd like to see it.
Are you sure? I'll go down and get it.
And who is this funny fellow who looks like a butcher?
Grosz. George Grosz.
I'll take 2 of him.
Excellent.
Didn't know you had a Monet.
I don't.
How are you?
Don't spiel me.
Waiting for her entrance, i suppose.
And where does that leave me?
Talented with options.
You're too young to be tired of options.
I'd really love to see you again.
Tell me, Max...
Where's the future in it?
The future?
No, no, no.
I've seen the future.
Believe me, it came straight out of...
There's no future in the future...
So you might as well...
Nina, Mon amour.
Nice to see you.
Hello, darling.
Mmm, I fell out of every turn,
well, that's what matters. That's what counts.
It's going well?
Who knows?
Do you know what you look like?
Like your wife, I hope.
No. Like a woman defying gravity.
That's what we do, us ladies.
I left my cigarettes at the theater. -Yeah.
Poppi.
Champagne.
There's one more case on the sidewalk,
and these are on loan.
I'll pay you back with interest.
The 16th?
Yeah, the least.
And you?
Ninth.
Hussars.
Ninth cavalry.
Where do you want it?
Thank you.
Inside the building.
Thank you, corporal.
Is this your building?
Is this some sort of club?
I sell art here.
In here?
Mm-hmm. Is that a portfolio?
Yeah.
Fork it over, corporal.
Let's take a look.
What's your market, then?
Mostly modern stuff.
Like, uh, the next time i have diarrhea,
I'll take a shit on a canvas
and bring it round to you, huh?
You could do worse.
I certainly wouldn't reject it out of hand.
I'm open to everything.
Would you like a cigarette?
They give you cancer of the lung.
Are you a doctor?
Hello, darling.
Um, liselore Von peltz, this is corporal...
Hitler. Adolf Hitler.
Hello.
Thank you for coming.
She your wife?
My wife's inside.
Come in. Have a glass of champagne.
I don't drink.
That's original.
Yes, well...
Best be on my way.
Thanks again for the, uh, hand.
The 16th.
We were together at Ypres.
Yes, we were.
Perhaps only a few kilometers apart.
I did some modern stuff in the trenches.
That, I would very much like to see.
You know where to find me. Max Rothman.
Das eisen werk.
Nina: How do you like your fish, daddy?
Mmm, lovely.
Oh, that was delicious.
Are you finished? You barely touched it.
I don't know how you stay so thin.
She has a parasite.
Yes, yes, but tell her about that girl in the company.
Oh, Esther swallowed a tapeworm.
On purpose.
A Jewish girl did this?
Isn't that fabulous?
I don't think this is dinner-table conversation.
Yes, but thank god
it's lunch and we're all grown-up.
I mean, as a medical man,
don't you find that fascinating, hmm?
I mean, here is a girl who has a certain...
A certain aesthetic standard
which she adheres herself to.
I don't think this is an appropriate conversation.
I... I... I know. It certainly isn't,
but... but wouldn't a condition be chronic?
I mean, if it took, that is, Nina?
Did it?
All right.
Let's talk about...
The weather, literally.
Have you been outside today?
I think it's what the English call an Indian summer.
I don't think Max is saying that it isn't, dad.
Isn't that what they call
the last days of October, November?
Indian summer?
No, no! That's Autumn,
what they call fall.
I'm going for a stroll.
He hasn't been able to sit still since he came back.
Balls!
He was already a neuropath before the war.
Do you know what ferdi told me yesterday?
Doctors are mostly judged by their hands.
Fucking bourgeois prick.
Our commander lost half the battalion
because he had a "Von" before his name.
Wait, wait, so you're saying the Russians are right?
We shouldn't be so quick to judge them.
Yeah, they're onto something, all right.
They never should have killed the czar.
Why? Because the czar is such a good guy?
Hey, hey! What about those kids?
Did they deserve a bullet? And that little boy?
You want to make stew, you've gotta chop meat!
And what kind of stew is that, soldier?
Speak up!
Hello, hello.
Oh, no, no, no. Don't get up.
A little taste for everyone.
Nothing's wrong with that, soldier.
But let's take a closer look at these... stew chefs.
Marx...
Jew?
Lenin? Mongrel Jew?
Trotsky?
Jew from a to z.
Yeah, so?
Did you ever know a Jew
to do anything for anybody else,
except raise your rent?
What do you think, corporal?
I don't believe in anti-semitism.
Not in emotive anti-semitism, anyway.
It means I don't believe that anti-semitism
should be based on emotions,
which just leads to pogrom and anarchy,
but rather on the facts.
I'm not sure I quite understand your point, corporal.
My point is, captain,
that the Semitic question is...
Is far too important to be left to the individual.
It ought to be in the domain of the government,
like public health or sewage.
I think you look handsome.
What's the price on this?
I'm not gonna bite.
7 marks for the suit,
2 marks for the shirt,
and the tie...
Well, we'll call it an even 10.
Man: What made you put a gallery in an ironwork?
Max: Well, you know what they used to make here, don't you?
Yes, and now they're recovering the iron and steel
second man: Beating swords into plowshares.
Man: That wouldn't be a bad lead.
That's too pacifistic, not subversive enough.
Subversive? - Yes, subversive!
God, what a giant piece of kitsch theater this last war was.
It was all fought on rail,
and yet, the kaiser went on horse,
surrounded by the princes
with the regiments and the banners
snapping in the breeze like it was agincourt,
but it wasn't Agincourt, was it?
Yeah, but you're an ex-cavalryman.
So I know exactly of which I speak,
with the same unsentimentality, the same principles
that we would the manufacture of bayonets.
Yes, or maybe wash pins. Maybe wash pins would work.
No, I think we'll stick with bayonets.
First man: Bayonets is a lot sharper.
Max: Yes, it is. Yes.
Mind if we take a look around?
Be my guest.
Ah, corporal hilter.
Hit-ler.
It's not like there's a lot of cheap housing around for vets, is there?
No, I suppose there isn't.
Can I offer you some coffee?
Um, no, never touch it.
No caffeine, no alcohol, no nicotine, no meat.
You're an ascetic?
Not at all. I'm a man of the people.
I see you brought your goods.
Don't expect anything abstract.
I'm a great believer in schopenhauer's dictum that art should proclaim,
"yes, by god! This is how it really is."
But life can be quite abstract at times.
Wouldn't you agree?
How do you mean?
Well, sometimes life, as you say,
won't be captured by the forms and lines
of traditional representation,
especially not these days.
I disagree completely.
Art should only ever reflect the eternal values
and the natural laws,
especially these days.
But aren't these eternal values and natural laws
aren't they meant to be shrinking and expanding?
Some kind of intellectual wet fart, Rothman?
The eternal values are harmonious proportions, nobility, and dignity,
and a continuation of the cultural evolution,
where each generation stands upon the shoulders of the next
and improves the work of the last.
But this is...
10...
No, a hundred steps backwards.
This is the undoing of the previous generations.
This is filth.
This is blood poisoning.
Are you a friend of marinetti's?
Is that what this is about?
Yes? Some sort of mad reverse-futurist?
Futurists?
Yes, the Italians.
They experienced the war pictorially,
like you, I'm hoping.
Some of the Italians fought well.
He served, right?
Grosz? Yes, he did.
Grenadier guards, i think.
Bolshie, huh?
No, not really. Just pissed off.
Oh, yeah?
What's he pissed off about?
He thinks people should have the right to strike.
And you, Rothman?
Are you pissed off?
About the right to strike?
No, about your arm.
I mean, you were gonna be a painter, right?
You're a funny one.
Well?
I think it's good,
but I think you can go even deeper.
Deeper?
What do you mean, deeper?
I mean, it's good...
But I sense you're just scratching at the surface.
When I look at this work,
I see a really pretty solid technique,
but what I'm missing...
One gets the feeling that you're holding something back.
And for the work to really leap forward,
I keep going back to this notion of an authentic voice.
What I mean to say is
I was there, and you were there,
and I know what it looked like,
but what did it feel like?
I mean, that's what we want to know, isn't it?
Does any of what I'm saying resonate?
I suppose what I'm trying to say is
you have to go as deep as you possibly can,
and then you have to gather yourself
and say, "ok, I just broke the surface. Deeper still."
You know, Rothman...
When I came back from this war,
I came back to nothing,
really nothing...
No homeland...
No home...
No parents, no family,
no fiancée.
No profession, no job,
no closet full of old hockey sticks and tennis rackets,
not even an address.
All I have in this world
is the conviction...
That I am a great artist
and a master builder.
And you just stole from that,
from the one thing that's mine,
a rich boy like you.
So if art as an object is dead,
why is everything so expensive?
Otherwise, nobody would buy it.
Man: You bolshie bastard!
Communist!
Comrade communist bastard!
Second man: Come on, you stupid pig! Come on!
Looks like corporal Hitler had a difficult time of it
in the big city.
Getting warm, corporal?
A friend of yours?
Called the cultural consumptive.
Yeah, I know the type...
Just clever enough to be unhappy.
Well, well...
You're an interesting man, corporal.
Artists aren't usually known for their nerve.
You were awarded the iron cross first-class, weren't you?
Would you like to learn how to speak in public?
We're offering a course to certain people.
It's a course in a new kind of science.
It's called propaganda.
The course consists of...
Yes, yes. I know about propaganda.
Well, it also consists of philosophy,
history, economics.
Look, I'm going to be frank with you, corporal.
Germany's balanced on a razor's edge.
Will she fall to the left
or to the right?
I think that depends largely on the army, sir.
You strike me as an unusually perceptive man, corporal.
May we count on you?
Of course, the army would pay for your expenses.
Hmm?
Lads, may I present for your edification
Herr Von lieberfelt...
And his troupe.
Sorry.
Major Von Lieberfelt.
I'm here to present you with a challenge.
Have you ever noticed
that the Jews only fuck each other?
Why?
Because they guard the purity of their blood.
So if we guard the purity of our blood
the way they guard the purity of their blood,
we see the world as it really is.
Our divine ancestors, the Aryans,
came to earth from outer space.
Forged in a matrix of ice and war,
Ar became the first divine artist-warrior.
The Aryan was led into temptation
by soft, swarthy people from bountiful lands.
Shh!
And ar's blood is polluted...
And Ar grows weak,
and Ar becomes the slave of the Jews.
Grail knights.
Yes, because you are grail knights.
If we guard the purity of our blood,
we have it in our power
to again straddle the earth like supermen.
Max's father: I eat a little fish,
no meats, no red meat,
lots of fruit, lots of green vegetables,
Nina's father: How are you sleeping?
Oh, 6 hours a night.
Ah! That's not enough!
It's too much.
I sleep too much.
No stimulants.
Max's mother: Everything has to be "bio" now.
Steamed vegetables.
He has a new doctor.
Why doesn't he come see me?
You don't charge enough.
I've lost 15 pounds.
I'm in and out of the tailor all the time.
What does she mean i don't charge enough?
Hello. It's Hamlet.
Hello, all. Doctor, Anna.
Mother, may I say you look very well?
You owe me 2 cases...
You know the difference between a Jewish mother and a rottweiler?
Poppi, you've lost weight.
You noticed?
Eventually, the rottweiler lets go.
Well, we have coffee. We have cake.
We have Sherry. We have indigestion just looking at it.
Max's mother: He doesn't eat.
He has my delicate system.
Nina's father: He should come and see me.
Girls: Hello!
Max: Excellent. You brought the brood.
Hi, sweetie.
Girls: Hello!
Hello. - Hi, Max.
Hello. - Hi.
¶ Happy birthday to you
¶ happy birthday to you
¶ happy birthday, dear Paulie ¶
¶ happy birthday to you
plates, please.
Would you like some cake?
Thank you for your plate.
Such a lovely boy.
As I was saying, Max, it's a bubble, a chimera.
Everybody and his mother wants to be a speculator these days,
and nobody knows what they're doing.
Never been in it in my life.
You know that.
All anybody wants to talk about today is the market.
It's such a bore.
How's your sentimental life?
Torrid. Yours?
Arid...
But sunny.
Max: And how is your sentimental life?
That's not a penis, is it?
I think she might be dreaming of one.
You have much more fun in your day
than we had in mine.
Who wants a big piece?
Captain: Men, i have terrible news.
Our government... If you can call this group of Jews,
homosexuals, and draft Dodgers a government...
Has accepted a peace in Versailles,
a peace so unjust it will surely lead
to another war, thank god.
Thank god because an army at peace
is like a whore at mass...
No bloody good to anyone.
So, men, I want you on the street today,
and here's the message...
"Stabbed in the back."
By who, sir?
Who said that?
Me.
Doesn't matter.
What matters is that Germany is absolved
from having lost the war
and prepared to wage the next one.
Fellow loses a game, he doesn't want to play anymore.
But you tell him he lost because someone else cheated,
well, then you have to hold him back
just remember, the army is the only vital element of our society.
War is vitality.
War is the hygiene of the world.
Captain: Yes?!
Aah!
Men, chanting: Versailles! No, no, no!
Man: The treaty is unfair!
Versailles! No, no, no!
Germany for the Germans!
Versailles! No, no, no!
What are they saying?
Versailles.
Give back our land!
Radio announcer: Here are the terms of the treaty of Versailles.
Germany is to cede alsace-Lorraine to France...
Upper Silesia - and west Prussia to Poland.
The army will be reduced to 100,000 men.
France will occupy the Rhineland
for the next 15 years,
and Germany will assume a war debt of 20 million gold marks.
There aren't 20 million marks in this entire country.
Furthermore, Germany is to sign a so-called "war guilt clause,"
in which she assumes sole responsibility for the war.
I'm ashamed to be German today.
Hey.
There's a meeting down the street.
I didn't serve.
I just played the market.
I lost my arm in the crash.
Come on, will you?
Hitler: Alsace-Lorraine to France.
This is disgusting.
We have been stabbed in the back!
Just 'cause you take it in the ass!
Stabbed in the back!
This guy's full of shit!
He works for the army!
He's a provocateur!
And look at his muscle!
Bastards! Fucking bastards!
Let him be, boys. Let him be.
A provoc...
That's a French word, isn't it?
No wonder I can't get my tongue around it.
You ever notice with chaps like this
that their French is really good?
So's their Russian.
Better than their German, actually.
Well, I'll tell you who I am,
because I've got nothing to hide.
I'm a little man, 4 years in the trenches.
Don't speak French. Don't know the Latin.
Guess that's because i didn't have a "Von" before my name.
You might say I'm the unknown soldier,
just like you.
Captain: What do you think?
I think... He's a nothing, sir.
Hitler: Volunteered, fought for 4 years.
He's got a big mouth.
Yes, you're right. He's a nothing.
Perhaps that's his secret.
Perhaps it's the age of the nothing.
Lots of lads got it worse.
Now I'm back, looking for a job.
Can't find one, though.
Paid 10 marks for a suit.
That's what I said to the Jew who sold it to me!
I can see where this is goin'.
Nothing new. Nothing new.
Germany's greatest enemy lives within!
Hitler: Herr Rothman.
Herr Rothman, I'm...
I'm honored.
I happened to be in the neighborhood, so...
I'm sorry I left so abruptly the other day.
You know what they say in Spain, don't you?
It's easy to fight the bull from the Barrera.
Bullfighting is completely immoral.
No, no. It means it's easier to be a critic
than an artist.
So, uh, what did you think of my speech?
Let's just say...
If you were to put the same amount of energy
into your art as you do your speaking,
you may have something going.
I best be on my way.
Hitler, come on.
I'll buy you a glass of lemonade.
Come on.
Where'd you get the sunglasses?
Progg and Fromm.
Try 'em.
Chic.
Very chic, Rothman.
Can I get another coffee, please? Strong.
Waiter: Yes, sir, I'll get it.
So you're an anti-semite.
On the contrary, i admire the Jews.
Yes, they're very intelligent people.
Well, there are intelligent ones
and not so intelligent ones.
Because they guard the purity of their blood.
The purity of their blood.
Because the secret of the Jews
lies in their pure Jewish blood.
That's why they are the mightiest counterpart
to the Aryan race.
What's the secret?
Is your father Jewish?
Yes, he is.
Mensch, of course your mum's Jewish.
You're an awfully hard man to like, Hitler,
because if I've learned anything over the past 4 years,
it's that we all shit the same,
scream the same,
and die the same.
There's no need for vulgarity, Rothman.
And god knows we've all been turned into assholes there.
Now, listen to me well.
You may not think you're anti-semite,
but in fact, you are.
But in this, as in all things,
there's a reason.
Your own hero Nietzsche said anti-semitism is the ideology
of those who feel cheated.
How do you know Nietzsche's my hero?
Because you've obviously skimmed his ideas.
Well, I don't feel cheated.
Excellent. Then stop acting like it.
Are you gonna smoke another cigarette?
You just put one out.
Exactly, but where is my instinct?
My secret instinct for self-preservation, i ask you.
I've heard these theories all my life.
Blood science, eugenics... It's rubbish.
It's complete nonsense.
It's kitsch.
It's not modern. It's not scientific.
It will hold you back as an artist.
Speaking of which, how's your work coming along?
And why are you making those appalling speeches for the army?
I'm just keeping my hand in it.
Keeping your hand in what?
The army is paying my expenses.
Ah, so you don't actually believe that rubbish.
Don't tell me you're happy with the peace.
Hello, Esther. How are you, sweetheart?
I think the peace is a travesty,
but I don't think i can be bothered
to pick up the German banner from the mud
with my left arm.
I gave at the office, you know.
Yes.
Yes, yes, you did.
I'm thinking about writing a book
on politics, you know?
You're a man of many talents.
Where do you find time to paint?
Mensch, use your head.
I'm still in the army.
I'm folding laundry.
I'm cleaning out the shithouses.
Painting costs money.
I don't have a pot to piss in.
Here's what I'd like to do.
I'd like to take some of your work on consignment.
Here's an advance against your future sales.
Spend it any way you like.
Find yourself a nice girl. Get drunk.
Get out of politics.
Rothman, you...
You've saved my life.
You know, maybe you're right.
Maybe I've yet to find my authentic voice.
Maybe I should get more modern.
You know, if I'm to be completely honest with myself,
I've... well, I've always admired
some of the ideas behind cubism.
Seems to me you have a great affinity for ideas.
Some clever way of saying I have poor technique?
Who finds a slight in any compliment.
I imagine it would just be altogether too bourgeois
to turn on the heat?
On top of me...
Below me...
Inside of me.
I'm always by your side.
I have to go.
Half-man, half-doll...
Every woman's dream.
Bills, bills, bills, Fraulein.
Bills are so violent.
Sorry. Uh, I...
Couldn't stop him.
There you are, Rothman.
Slept in late, did you?
What are you doing?
What do you mean, what am I doing?
You told me i had a show.
A show?
I told you I would take some of your work on consignment.
The way I understand that term is
I keep some of your work informally,
in trust, as it were.
And if I can move it, i move it.
How are you going to "move it"
am I in your studio looking over your shoulder?
So you're not actually going to sell the work?
No, and I will tell you why.
New works by arp, Ernst, and Grosz at das eisen werk,
November 15 to December 15.
So, after December 15?
Can we take it one step at a time?
Listen, Rothman!
I've lost 4 years!
Yes, we all lost 4 years.
Some of us a little more.
I'd kill for you if you gave me a show.
Don't kill for me, please.
Just do what you do.
Be anxious. Be nervous.
Tell me you're the unknown soldier
come back to haunt us with your brush, Hitler!
With your brush!
You've got to take all this pent-up stuff
and you've got to hurl it onto the canvas.
It doesn't have to be good,
and it doesn't have to be beautiful.
It just has to be true.
And even if it's a lie, make it an interesting lie,
and I'll put it up, i swear.
You do think I'm talented, don't you?
I think there's definitely something
rustling behind your curtain, yes.
Good-bye.
There are times...
I have these terrible doubts.
Paint them.
Paint your doubts! Really!
Well? Well?
One morning, i wish you'd just say,
"good morning, Rothman.
"The lovely Mrs. Rothman, your children,
you're such a bourgeois, Rothman.
Yes, I'm meeting an American dentist, a big collector.
Listen, if I see you anywhere near that building,
I will personally set fire to your entire life's work.
Speaking of which, when am I going to see something new?
I need new things, Hitler.
I am very motivated by newness.
Newness really does it for me. You understand?
Ah, there's Dr. and Mrs. Levi.
Hello!
Well, you'll make the sale for sure, huh?
Well, what can one say about Paul Klee
that hasn't been said a hundred times before?
There's a young artist I've discovered recently named Hitler.
Less aggressively modern perhaps,
but a real example...
Of what I call krieg kunst.
Precisely, doctor, precisely.
Not as mannered, as tutored
but a very authentic voice of the trenches,
the voice of the everyman,
the voice - of the unknown soldier.
And as a gesture of solidarity
I would ask only 5 marks for these pieces.
Hard to go wrong for 5 marks.
What do you think, darling?
Hitler: They bought the Ernst?
Oh, my god!
I'm gonna die in some doorway
like a dog in the street,
a complete unknown.
Max: Nonsense.
I'm... I'm 30.
I'm 30.
Could you just put that out, please?
No, fuck you. I'm in my own place.
All right, you want the truth?
I'll tell you the truth.
You're a bit lazy, Hitler!
A chap like Ernst,
up at the crack of dawn working.
This Ernst, what's he look like?
He's rather good-looking.
Rather like me, huh?
Mm-hmm.
Eyes?
Light.
Hello.
Yes, but could you paint that?
Of course I could. I...
The man has no technique.
Technique is not what makes the painting interesting.
What makes the painting compelling
is what Max Ernst reveals.
You could almost say he admits, confesses,
about himself.
Could you do that?
Could you be so voluptuous with yourself?
Hmm?
Listen, the train is leaving the station, Hitler.
One question remains.
Why aren't you on board?
I don't know.
I'm in your hands, Rothman.
Hand.
I've been going to seances, you know.
Really? That sounds progressive.
It's most instructive to learn how the old German gods
could be usurped by the young god of Israel,
the god of guilt, the projection of slaves.
Sounds like lunch at my house.
Always the joker, huh?
Why are we here, Rothman?
What has this got to do with modern art?
Nothing. I just like it here.
I thought you were going to teach me
about modern art, Rothman.
I already know how to loaf.
It's inhuman what they're doing to these birds.
It's inhuman.
Why don't you set them free?
That'd be a great art project, Hitler.
We'd have Chinese nightingales in the park
for years to come.
They'd sing in the snow...
And people would come from miles around,
and they would be known as Hitler's nightingales.
Are you on the spike, Rothman?
Is that what's wrong with you?
Bloody hell!
Damn it.
Hello, midgets.
What are you doing, dad?
Dad said a bad word.
Aha.
You are a very clever girl, Ada, love of my life.
You're right.
Because that's exactly what dad has been thinking about... words.
Good words...
And bad words. Because...
Words are magic.
Sometimes I think the whole world
is strung together by words.
Unh! Oh!
Victory.
Paul: Pappi?
Yes, young man?
In the world upside down,
what would we be doing now?
In the world upside down? That's easy.
We'd be having breakfast.
And what would we have for breakfast?
In the world upside down?
For breakfast, we'd have grilled sole,
green beans, new potatoes,
plum pudding for dessert... yum...
And in the world upside down,
"i hate you, i hate you, i hate you, Paulie.
I loathe you beyond reason."
Wouldn't I?
Now go to sleep,
and tomorrow, we'll fly around the sun together.
He would be.
Hello, darling.
Hi, sweetheart.
George Grosz, Adolf Hitler.
My wife Nina.
You're on.
Nice guy.
Oh, he's a futurist.
Really? What's his name?
Never heard of him.
You will. Are you ready?
Uh, Hitler... - Yeah?
Are you a painter?
Yes, yes. I'm an artist.
Are you a friend of my husband's?
Of sorts.
In August 1914,
and was accepted to my father's old regiment,
the light hussars.
I used to think we rode into the war on horseback.
But now I realize that, in fact,
we rode - into the war on words.
Yes, my friend, words.
If the high command had used nails
to hammer our feet to the mud,
I think we would have found a pair of pliers,
passed them down the line, and made a break for it.
The words kept us rooted to the ground.
Now, these are magical words,
used in mass hypnosis,
and if you would like millions of young men
to give up their lives for your cause,
you must first learn these words.
Repeat after me.
The enemy... Is the foe or the host.
Both: The enemy
is the foe or the host.
Danger is peril.
To be brave is to be gallant.
The dead...
Oh, yes, the dead,
they are not dead.
They are the fallen.
One's chest is one's breast.
To move quickly is to be swift.
A soldier is...
A warrior.
War is strife.
Actions are deeds.
To die is to perish.
To sleep is to slumber.
The sky are the heavens,
blood... élan vital.
And arms and legs...
Are noble limbs.
Hey, soldier.
Thank you.
Hitler: That's disgusting!
It's revolting! Unh!
That was a miscalculation of rare magnitude,
they want you to sell their paintings and make 'em rich,
not scare the fucking shit out of them.
Darling, that wasn't...
Paulie's cowboy hat, was it?
What a masquerade he puts on.
Hussar this, father's regiment that.
As German as you or I.
Butter wouldn't melt in his mouth.
Finagling himself, throwing his money around,
and of course, all the while staying married in the faith.
Always working on the inside from the outside.
Why, the patient looks perfectly healthy,
but then you look at the turd,
but really look at it.
And then you see the worms crawling around.
There weren't any of the men there, were there?
No, no, only artists and the usual degenerates.
Well, I'm sure they adored it.
They hated it.
They hated it!
They stood there like stiffs.
It went completely over their head.
This Rothman is...
This Rothman!
Rothman made the whole war look small and pointless,
ridiculous, absurd!
Don't despair, junge.
You've got your own talent.
You just have to let it out.
Let it out.
Hitler: The German collective unconscious
is essentially feminine. It takes...
Hello. - A strong masculine type.
Rothman.
Well, what did you think?
The other night, my disaster,
did it remind you of Ypres,
or is it just rubbish?
Yes, what did you think?
It didn't remind me of Ypres.
No? What did it remind you of,
if anything?
It reminded me, perhaps...
Perhaps of a particularly...
Disgusting...
And depraved dream of Ypres.
As opposed to the happy...
Glorious one?
Exactly.
Which your piece implies is
ipso facto impossible.
Listen to them, farting higher than their...
Their asshole.
What was that you said, Erich?
I said...
Yes, I know what you said.
My question was rhe-Tor-i-Cal.
It's a difficult word, isn't it, Erich?
Shall I ask you to spell it?
Well, this was fun.
But duty calls,
and I must mind the store.
Can't give up the day job.
We forgive you for a lot, don't we?
Forgive and forget.
Turn the other way where others wouldn't.
Nicht, Erich? Nicht?
My god, what philistines you all are!
Rothman.
So how's my career going?
Slow. The whole market's slow right now.
Who are those gentlemen?
Guttersnipes.
Don't seem very good company.
I'm flirting with politics again.
It's a party that promotes
the interests of the veteran,
but sometimes you have to build
a base from the base.
Well, I'll just have to take your word for that.
Listen. Do you wanna meet some girls?
Girls?
Yes, Hitler, girls.
You know, those brilliant creatures
without doing a stitch of work?
Come on.
Max: Afternoon.
Hello.
So there were parts of it you liked?
I mean, I know you're more of a patriot than I am.
Where did you come up with the idea of the toys?
You should have children. They give you good ideas.
Ever consider the future, Hitler?
I think all my work's based on the future.
Yes? And what do you see? Do you see fame?
Money? Beautiful lovers?
I see myself teaching. - Hmm.
And you, Rothman? How do you see the future?
Look inside my pocket.
"Would you die for the mother in law land?"
You're a menace, Rothman.
Ha!
War is the instrument with which the happy... No, no, reverse that.
War is the instrument by which the unhappy
turn the happy into themselves.
Mensch, don't you know genius and happiness
go together about as well as cheese and chalk?
Cheese and chalk? Paint that.
You know that all great cultures die
don't you know that all great, truly great art,
comes from the struggle...
The Titanic, the epic, the eternal struggle?
Are you saying all art should be political?
I'm simply speaking of the pure blood mixture.
Everything depends on blood mixture
and the resulting drops in racial levels.
Hitler's very concerned with blood.
We think... we hope it's a metaphor.
Ahem.
Doesn't he sort of remind you of marinetti?
No. No.
He's the most horrible creature I've ever seen.
Of course he doesn't have any friends. He doesn't listen.
And this thing about blood.
He had a bad war.
No, darling, you had a bad war.
I'm sure he had a fine war.
Woman: What do you feel guilty about, Max?
I think guilt is a second-rate emotion.
On the other hand, when I came back from the war,
I came back to my family and my bank account,
my parents, and the best care,
and he came back to nothing.
But really, nothing.
So clearly, you do feel guilty.
That I don't know what it's like to come back to nothing.
Oh.
Darling, you're wrong.
And every day, i see you turn that
into something so beautiful.
I told him the other day
that his insane fucking ideas
were holding him back as an artist.
An he tries. He really does...
Sometimes.
Until tonight, of course,
but that's because he feels insecure
being around you 2 lovely ladies.
Woman: Just remember, Max,
Florence nightingale died of syphilis.
And that means what?
Don't get too close to your charity cases.
You've got chocolate all over your mouth.
Thank you. That's very nice of you.
I just want to know what he has in that briefcase.
It's the second time he went to the loo.
He just left.
Fucking bitches!
Forget about it, Rothman.
May I?
Ah...
The artist at home.
Ah, what an artist you are.
So clear, such focus.
I almost feel guilty asking you this
because I don't want to take you away from your work.
But for a while now we've been taking an interest
in a small political party.
It has 500 or 600 members.
It's called the national socialist workers party.
Don't let the name fool you.
They are as socialist as you and me.
We had a speaker scheduled for them,
but the fellow's come down with a cold, so...
So we were wondering if you might be persuaded to say a few words.
I understand if the muses are...
David, what do you think of the future?
I think it's expensive.
Max.
How are you? - How are you?
Thank you. Is that a fur bath?
Yes. Yes, it is.
Yes, it is.
Gerta's in good health, I trust?
Yeah, yeah. Her chest? Yeah, she's fine.
Good.
So, am I, uh...
"In the soup," as they say?
No, no, no, the soup's good.
You're in the shit.
Oh, that's nice.
Max, this is serious.
But the tax people could easily take a different position.
Hmm.
And we plead forgetfulness... An artistic license.
I can't, I'm skint. I just gave George an advance.
You promised you were going to run this as a business.
Could you borrow from your father?
Arrange for another loan against das eisen werk.
It's not so simple. The boys at the bank
are going to want to know what it's for.
It's so much simpler. It's just a loan.
Hello, Fraulein. Woman: Hello.
Good-bye, Max.
David, what is it that your brother calls the art business again?
Baked air.
That is so... great.
You know that horrible little tramp who's always making you feel guilty?
He's making a speech right near us where we live,
and I really think you should hear what he has to say, Herr Rothman.
Hitler: It's disgusting!
We are being stabbed in the back!
We won this war!
Our boys fought like lions!
Like lions!
So why in the name of Providence
are we giving away 70,000 square miles of land
and abandoning 6,000,000 of our fellow Germans?!
Because we have been stabbed in the back!
By the profiteers
and the maggots and the parasites!
And make no mistake,
Germany's greatest enemy lives within!
Deutschlanders!
Ah, Rothman, there you are.
Well... what do you think?
Well, what can one say?
This is the new art, Rothman.
I realized something
that all you hoity-toity types missed
smoking your cigarettes with your mistresses.
The way to reinvent art
is not to make it political.
Far too small a step.
You could say you and i were plowing the same furrows for a while,
but then I made the bigger leap.
Politics is the new art.
Yes, Rothman, my whole life,
my whole life has been a detour to this moment.
Everything I've struggled to learn
about art, about design, color composition,
I'm going to stuff it all into this and make it live again.
Well, Hitler, I've always thought you to be
an intuitive futurist.
You're so disappointing, Rothman.
Am I only acceptable to you if you can classify me?
Isn't that emblematic of the world we both despise?
What's happened to you, Rothman?
You're suddenly so conventional.
Go deeper, you said.
Well, I went deep.
I went deeper than any artist has ever gone before!
Where is the work, my dear?
Where is the evidence of this journey into the abyss?
I am the new avant-garde!
I am the new artist practicing the new art!
And politics is the new art!
Hello.
No, no, no, no. I was just... I was just thinking.
Where are you going?
Oh, I have to return some drawings.
And I'm being dragged to shuagain tonight.
He just wants to get away from your mother.
Sometimes I think we're all marching backwards.
Hmm.
How do I rate... As a partner?
Promising.
Especially when you learn to apply yourself.
While we're on the subject,
I hear it takes more than one girl
to tell you that you're still handsome.
But at a certain point...
It starts to get in the way...
Of, um...
Progress?
Exactly.
You know, progress really does it for me.
I'll see you tonight.
Well, I'm... Sorry it didn't work out.
Yes, well, look, Rothman,
you're a...
Uh... - A what, Hitler?
You're a...
A well-born sort of person.
By cesarean, actually.
A nice sort of person.
There's a lot of people in this country
who don't like...
Well, we'll just have to live with that, won't we?
What's this?
Some designs.
Hmm.
That's certainly an alternative to boring old modernism.
This is some old-new future world, isn't it?
This will be the symbol for the whole movement.
It's a Sanskrit symbol for energy, for the sun,
but I've reversed it.
Yes, that I've seen before.
Yes, but against a white background?
My god. You really worked this out, didn't you?
Down to the uniforms and...
Yes, I see.
And what kind of roads.
Roads? - You see...
Even in the more thickly populated areas
these large superroads will create a sense of...
Open space and of flying.
Hitler, this is meant work.
You finally found your voice.
The future...
As a return to the past.
You wouldn't...
Show it, would you?
Yes. I will.
Because this work, well...
This work...
Belongs in a gallery.
You're not pulling my leg, are you, Rothman?
Because... I do have a career in politics, you know.
Well, Hitler, what would you rather do:
Change the way people see
or how they pay their taxes?
Meet me at metropole at 9:30.
Bring everything.
The whole schmier.
He's created this whole new world,
and he has all these flags and drawings
with these Teutonic references.
No, but you can't say it's not a coherent vision...
Down to detailed notes on his foreign policy.
David, he's created these epic roadways
where the traveler will experience the feeling of flight.
He's resurrected all the German gods,
and it's all complete kitsch from a to z.
It's... it's very interesting.
It's... it's future kitsch.
And what he's pushing makes the kaiser seem like a Sunday painter.
Oh, really? That sounds a bit of a worry.
He just stands there shouting slogans and posing.
And the whole thing's like a giant art project.
Of course, the minute i said I'd show him...
Exactly. It's gonna be a big show.
It's going to be a big, big show.
There's this character called duchamps.
He's very, very interesting.
He does things with urinals and wine racks.
He says in the future everything is art.
The meshugenshow.
Ah. Poppi.
The future is subversive, David.
I don't want to see any stiffs up front.
Yesterday there was nothing but stiffs.
Well, I don't have any control over who's in front.
Mensch, are you daft?
This is all about control.
That's the thing about art.
You don't just slap on the paint,
even if it looks that way.
Now, I need more enthusiasm up front.
They give it to me. I give it to them. They give it to me.
Could you put that out, please? It bothers my voice.
This is the last time.
No more.
What are you talking about?
I'm through.
You're through?
Find somebody else.
Rothman's gonna give me a show.
Rothman?
Max Rothman?
You think Herr Rothman would lift a finger for you?
Hitler, you have one of the most authentic Germanic voices i have ever heard,
and you're 30 years old.
It's now or never.
What are you waiting for?
They are your canvas.
That's your paint.
What are you waiting for? Let it out.
Let it out!
Today...
I will address something central to my thinking.
Today I will address the Jewish question.
Not long ago, i was strolling
when I suddenly encountered an apparition
in a black caftan and black hair locks.
Is this a Jew?
And then the more I stared,
the more my first question assumed a new form.
Is this a German?
Audience: No.
Hitler: Is there any form of filth, particularly in cultural life
without a Jew involved in it?
Because when you cut into an abscess,
what do you find?
Like maggots in a rotting body,
a kike!
Hitler: With the appearance of the first settlement,
the Jew is suddenly at hand.
The stranger is given a friendly reception.
He soon becomes an active part of the economic life of the settlement.
He begins to lend money.
Now the Jew is a steady resident.
Commerce and finance have become his complete monopoly.
He begins a second phase,
where he begins to emphasize his Judaism less
and his germanism more.
Yes, he becomes... If you can believe it...
Germanic!
Culturally he contaminates art and literature, theater.
Religion ridiculed.
Ethics and morality pissed on.
German girls turned into whores!
Whores!
The Jew casts off his final cloak
and becomes the blood Jew.
The tyrant becomes the vampire of nations,
the vampire of the people of Deutschland!
Blood Jew!
Blood Jew! Blood Jew!
Blood Jew!
Blood Jew! Blood Jew!
Blood Jew!
Blood Jew! Blood Jew!
Blood Jew!
Blood Jew! Blood Jew!
So, you coming for supper?
Mmm.
I have to meet someone at the metropole at 9:30.
Can I drop you?
No. I'd like to walk.
I should get more exercise.
I'm seeing a hypnotist Monday.
Well, that's good.
Are you sure i can't drop you?
Kiss mammi for me.
Hmm.
Oh, god.
Leave him. It's finished.