max

a provocative film that speculates on the life of one of history's biggest villians: adolf hitler. the movie looks at his younger life as he attempts to become a professional artist. max, played by john cusack, is the art dealer who takes a shining to the marginally talented adolf and tries to get him to develop into a better artist with something to say. finding that his skill as an artist is limited, adolf rebels against the art scene and instead begins to push the envelope in his political views instead of his artistic views. the concept is interesting indeed, but we dont really get much of an inside look at adolf himself, instead we only get the perspective of an art dealer who befriends him who is just as confused about the aimless boy as everyone else is. noah taylor does a great job with the unenviable task of trying to make hitler likable, but the story itself doesnt quite allow us to like him. its as if the film makers are trying to make him human, but are just not willing to make him relatable. an interesting film, but misses the mark.