The Producers Mel Brooks (USA; 1967) Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder.
Aguirre, the Wrath of God Werner Herzog (FDR; Peru; Mex; 1972) Klaus Kinski
viewed Star and Shadow Cinema new Year Jan 2026
new lamps for old
Mel Brooks’ ‘The Producers’ is a one joke movie (it’s a good joke) built around the proposition of making money out of a scam by spoofing Hitler. Werner Herzog’s ‘Aguirre’ set during the period of the Spanish conquest of South American is a visceral recreation of the the insanity of colonialism.
Look up into the firmament of socio-political history and gaze at the stars. From our time anchored perspective some are rising, some falling. Star Churchill is definitely on the wane. Star Hitler by way of contrast is on the rise. Re-appraisal of Winston’s colonial record has caused him to slip in the heavens. Hitler who was below the horizon for most of the 20th century has in the last twenty years become well visible particularly on dark nights.
The last fifty years have witnessed the unabashed rise in genocides and radical ethnic cleansing. World wide there have been attempts to intimidate and if necessary to drive or wipe out civilian populations whose diverse ethnicity is seen as a challenge to a dominant racial or nationalist grouping. As these politically inspired racial or socioreligious murderous campaign have increased – the Bosnians, Rohingya, African Sudanese, and most visibly the Palestinians – so have apologias for Hitler started to counter balance his pariah status. In targeting diverse civilian populations either as a political ploy of distraction or as an easy means of state/individual enrichment through plunder, Hitler’s light starts to shine through. Typically from the hard core right there is the usual formulaic acknowledgment that he went too far (too far being a euphemism standing in for multiple genocides and homicidal wars); all told he did much that was right. What interests the apologists most is Hitler’s strap line: ‘Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer’. Hitler’s creation of a state consolidated by one regimented political party disciplined by terror unified by the creation of a common racial enemy: the Jews.
As advertising agencies know one means of familiarising a brand is to relate it to a friendly human face – hence the use of smiling celebrities to front out sales messages. Foibles and imperfections are ok, they can all help the consumer associate with a product. This type of thought makes ‘The Producers’ more problematic viewing today than when it was originally released. Brooks depicts the Hitler regime as an all singing all dancing spectacle; not the hard assed reality of the grim faced Nuremberg rallies (no one smiles in Riefenstahl’s Triumph des Willens) that were the hallmark of Nazism. Of course `The Producers’ is a spoof, intended to be outrageously silly. But in today’s environment of the normalisation of mass slaughter, perhaps it backfires. The representation of Hitler as a dotty ‘camp’ figure with a friendly smiling face, who inspires the gushing sung out acclamation: ‘Springtime for Hitler and Germany, Winter for Poland and France, Deutschland is happy and Gay,…Look out here comes the Master Race’ – is exactly on message for the current crop of authoritarian despots. Hitler as a progenitor of MAGA: a silly boy who did some bad things but overall was on the right path. Brooks’ movie may have been made to exploit Hitler for laughs. At first they laughed at Trump: fewer people are laughing today. Now ‘The Producers’ feels like it could be incorporated into the rehabilitative wave set on justifying Hitler as part of the broader campaign to legitimise the murderous policies and genocide practices of today’s despots.
Although most people viewing Brooks’ film will enjoy and laugh at the cleverly extended joke (delivered by Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder) the passage of time has fundamentally altered the film’s premise. What was seen as a bit of harmless fun in 1967 has in the 60 odd years since it was made taken on a more disturbing dimension. We see Hitler transformed from a mass murderer into the innocent happy acceptable face of power, on the way to becoming a poster boy for the current crop of ruthless dictators. It would be difficult to remake this film in these times.
They seek Gold.
Re-seeing Herzog’s ‘Aguirre’ it felt like the core themes underlying the film had intensified in relevance since it was made. More than ever the insanity of greed and desire sing through the depiction of Aguirre’s colonial project, as if the whole history of colonialism up to Trump had been condensed into the Herzog’s idea. It’s a quest movie in which nothing gets in the way of the pursuit of wealth and glory. The Spanish came seeking gold the gold of their dreams; they ended up both with precious metals and ruling the vast lands of S America. This is also the story of much of colonial history India, Indonesia, China, West Africa: they who came to extract ended up as rulers over vast lands.
Through the character of Aguirre (played on the edge of madness by Klaus Kinski) we see that the story of conquest is the story possession: being possessed by demons. Blinded by the dream of gold and conquest, whatever the cost, Aguirre’s demons drive him. Rooted in his psyche they equate power with terror and violence. To attain his goal of emulating Pizarro nothing’s allowed to stand in the way. He forces his company through impassable terrain, raging waters; he kills, put his company at risk, to follow righteousness of his path.
What gives the film immediacy and authenticity is its visceral quality. Shot on location on and about tributaries of the Amazon, the viewer sees that the players (and by extension also the crew) are facing many of the same hardships experienced by the conquistadores. No studio sets, no trick shots or ‘green backgrounds’ Herzog’s scenario is grounded in the actual. And it’s through this actuality that the audience gain measure of the nature of these conquistadores at this time with the resources available to them. Their main resource was that of the insanity of will. The colonial project, the film project, Aguirre Herzog Pizarro were driven by the forces of maniacal megalomania. South America, Middle East, the Indies, then Africa, Vietnam Afghanistan, Iraq all destined to suffer the violence of White Man’s demons and his greed to possess what is not his.
adrin neatrour
adrinuk@yahoo.co.uk
