A Profoundly Creepy “German Doctor”
By Skip Sheffield
“The German Doctor” is one of the creepiest
Holocaust-related films I have ever seen, yet it is not set in Europe or even during
World War II.
“The German Doctor" is the infamous Josef Mengele, the malicious
Nazi “Angel of Death” who carried out dangerous, painful and often fatal
experiments on living human beings in his capacity as SS Officer and chief Nazi medical
doctor.
Like many Nazi war criminals, Mengele fled to South America.
“The German Doctor,” directed by Lucia Puenzo and based on her novel “Wakolda,”
is set in Argentina in 1960.
A stranger approaches a family out in the wilderness of
Patagonia and asks if he could follow their car to his destination, as he is
unfamiliar with the area.
Eva (Natalia Oreiro), a good-hearted woman who understands
German says OK, despite the misgivings of her husband Enzo (Diego Peretti).
The couple has a lovely 12-year-old daughter named Lilith
(Florencia Bado), who looks much younger than her age.
“He thought I was a perfect specimen,” says Lilith in the
opening voiceover, “except for height.”
The family is bound for a lakeside resort, which they intend
to re-open and operate. The German stranger, who calls himself Helmut Gregor,
becomes their first paying guest.
Over time Helmut ingratiates himself and becomes
uncomfortably close to Lilith, who is ridiculed at school for being a “midget.”
Helmut convinces her mother Eva that he can alter Lilith genetically to make
her grow larger and stronger.
There are adverse side effects however, and when Eva becomes
pregnant with twins (a particular fascination of Mengele’s), events make an
even more sinister turn.
The most chilling thing about “The German Doctor” is that
Mengele eluded capture by Israel’s Mossad, and went on to live a ripe old age.
Now that is truly scary.
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