Since "The Downfall" (2004), stories about Hitler or German life under the Third Reich have been rapidly emerging from Germany created by a new generation of directors born long after World War II. "Sophie Scholl: The Final Days" from 2005 is the standout, a heavily introspective work about a girl who is executed for distributing antiwar fliers.
Now, "The Truly Truest Truth About Adolf Hitler" is the latest in the crop of Hitler movies. It's a different breed from what we've come to expect from Nazi-related films, though. A comedy that walks the fine line between humanistic humor and sheer screwball comedy, "Truly" pities and laughs at one of the 20th century's most horrific dictators.
The year is 1944, and Germany is in shambles. Hitler (Helge Schneider) is a stuttering, heavily depressed neurotic who, when pressed to make decisions, hurries to the corner of the room and hugs his knees. Third Reich mastermind Joseph Goebbels (Sylvester Groth), who could be the suave director of an ad agency (get the man an iPhone and a Zegna suit!), decides that shock therapy is in order. He calls for Professor Adolf Israel Grunbaum (played by the dauntingly excellent Ulrich Muhe) — one of the nation's most renowned performing artists, now sentenced to hard labor in a concentration camp — to come and coach Hitler into rekindling some charisma.