A Grim Session with The German Doctor

The greatest fault of The German Doctor, originally titled Wakolda is perhaps that it relies too much on your knowledge going in. To truly understand just how chilling a film about a struggling Argentinian family and the mild-mannered physician who comes to lodge at their hotel in 1960 you must already know a little about who the man is.

The German Doctor is shrouded in mystery for much of the film, with focus instead thrown on the relationships that the doctor, who goes by the name Helmut Gregor, forms with the family. He takes a scientific interest in their diminutive daughter Lilith, identifying a growth defect that he can treat. Mother Eva is wary of allowing a virtual stranger to experiment on her child but being fifteen weeks pregnant with another she knows she may need his help. While the father, Enzo is made predictably anxious by this newcomer’s increasing involvement with his family. Even when Gregor offers to invest in a business venture together, mass producing the doll Enzo made for Lilith, named Wakolda from which the film gains its Spanish title.   

Then comes the twist, that this seemingly average German doctor is in fact escaped war criminal Joseph Mengele. While some may know Mengele as the villain in The Boys from Brazil he is in fact the kind of Nazi scientist that other Nazi scientists thought insane. On top of the unknown number of people he killed Mengele amputated his victim’s limbs, infected them with Typhus and injected chemicals into their eyes among other horrific crimes. However The German Doctor chooses not to outline the depths of Mengele’s evils, most of his work is conveyed in a handful of graphic drawings in his notebook. Assuming this information is either common knowledge or simply already implicit in his association with the Nazis.

Whatever the reason it feels like The German Doctor could have pushed its subject matter for greater dramatic tension. This is a film about a collection of innocents coming to the realisation that they have colluded, however unknowingly, with a monster. The theme of lost innocence is felt most profoundly with Lilith who gains the most from Menegle’s presence and so becomes the most enamoured with him. At the threshold of puberty she takes an interest in this charming older man, eventually coming to learn about his work and ideologies. Thankfully their scenes never possess a Lolita-esque vibe, Mengele views her more a subject of study than anything. And it has to be said Florencia Bado gives a charming, naive performance as Lilith without becoming overly precocious.

The real star though is Alex Brendemuhl with the unenviable task of playing one of history worst menaces with zero menace. His cold, still eyes suit more and alien with an understated curiosity about other people. His Mengele is calculating about everything, wanting to be liked but only to maintain his cover, wanting to help but only to further his research. It is not until he finds the net closing around him that Mengele breaks out the hissing villainy, at which point it feel like a jarring turn of character. It is a performance which doesn’t plumb the depths of his psyche but it is effective nonetheless.

Before he flees though there is baggage to resolve with the family as Eva goes into labour and Mengele is the only physician available. A glimmer of a good deed forms in an otherwise black pit of evils as Mengele resolves to help the struggling newborn twins even with Isreali agents closing in. Meanwhile the family, with Enzo in particular, have to resolve accepting the help of a man who has committed atrocities. Will the lives of his children be forever tainted by this man’s influence? Will they be able to forgive themselves for not doing more to bring him to justice? For the family there are no easy answers.

In the end The German Doctor does not do anything new with its well-trod subject matter. It doesn’t have the big dramatic performances of Schindler’s List or the insights of Downfall. It does however provide a tense and occasionally compelling microcosm of the effects of the Holocaust. A slow-burning character piece that examines how easily it is for the devil to assume pleasing forms.