When Hitler returned to Germany, the German crossover film "He's Back" sparked reflection

　　"International Herald Herald" reporter Feng Yujing from Berlin If Hitler appeared in today's Germany, would he still be able to win the ruling position through the German people's election? Was xenophobic Nazi Germany born again? The satirical comedy film based on the best-selling novel of the same name, "He's Back Again," was recently released in Germany, prompting new thinking among Germans who generally disagree with these assumptions.

Laughter stuck in the throat

　　The film "He's Back" focuses on Adolf Hitler waking up again in the heart of today's Berlin nearly 70 years after his disgraceful departure. And the series of changes taking place in Germany today – the new currency, the ubiquity of foreigners and the female chancellor in power – have taken the former fuehrer somewhat to his knees. But no one believed he was really back, and people thought it was just his imitators. A newsstand owner not only offered him a place to live, but also saw his comedic potential and introduced Hitler to television producers. Thus Hitler began to devote himself to television, and eventually became a television star in modern society. But the secret behind all this is that Hitler did not abandon his previous plan to try to dominate the world.

　　German director David Winder also adopted a novel approach to the film, not fully adopting Hitler's first-person narrative tone, but scattered documentary material. In these shots, Adolf Hitler takes to the streets to have conversations with citizens of various German cities, "listening" to their complaints about society and adding, "Will you follow me?" Or he appeared in a cleaning shop owned by turks in large pants, or learned to use computers with his secretary in the office and became a talk show guest.

　　At the same time, these documentary footage more realistically reflect the reaction of contemporary people to hitler, which some find amusing and even ask to take a selfie with him; only a very small number of people express anger. Most, however, treated him as an artistic performer and confided in him, accusing him of being "foreigners" and scolding German politics and the media for not better representing them. Even more surprisingly, these people even unreservedly endorsed Hitler's unchanged political slogans.

　　While some shots will make the audience laugh from time to time, when the line between fiction and reality becomes blurred, when people see Hitler walking into the headquarters of Germany's far-right National Democratic Party to chat, or when the "troublemaker" is beaten by neo-Nazis, the satirical comedy turns into a sad and bitter seriousness, and the laughter of the audience is already stuck in the throat.

Nationalist concerns under the tide of refugees

　　This film about Hitler's "crossing" was staged in Berlin in early October and is very relevant in the context of the current problem of refugee flows in Europe. The German government expects Germany to welcome about 800,000 refugees this year. As the number of refugees entering Germany continues to increase, the right-wing forces in Germany have shown a trend of expansion, xenophobic speech on the Internet is fierce, attacks on refugee camps continue to occur in various places, and the number of people participating in the march has also increased significantly recently.

　　In the eyes of xenophobes, the arrival of refugees will disrupt the German job market and bring about a huge cultural shock. Our reporter also clearly remembers a recent march in which 30,000 people gathered in the square in the center of the eastern German city of Dresden to conduct a large-scale xenophobic demonstration against the influx of refugees. Xenophobes shouted in unison "Merkel stepped down!" "We are the people!" Strong nationalist sentiments are reminiscent of that period of history 70 years ago, and people are frightening.

　　The end of the film also shows the scene that I experienced live, when the protesters shouted: "We are the people", and only silence remained in the cinema.

　　Rafael, who works at a radio station in Berlin, said the film was great, "The film ends with real depth that makes people feel terrified after watching the film, but it also makes me think about what I can do to combat this xenophobia." She told this reporter that the film shows all the conditions for a return to Nazism, only in a slightly different form: not against Jews, but against Muslims, bankers.

　　"I don't understand why this is happening in Germany because the unemployment rate here is so low. But with so many people in southern Europe without jobs and without social status, they will eventually become desperate and violent. We lack respect for each other and ourselves and a sense of community. So, we're always lonely, pathetic, negative, desperate, and that scares me. And this movie just points out this concern of mine. Raffael said.

"Not only was Hitler the devil, so were the voters who elected him"

　　The ending of "He's Back" is equally impressive. When the photographer who "discovered" Hitler realized that This Hitler was the real Hitler, they decided to kill him. After the shooting, Hitler fell from the roof of a skyscraper, which should have been fatal, but Hitler's voice suddenly came from behind the photographer: "You will not get rid of me, you cannot kill me, I will always be a part of you, a part of you, a part of Germany", which not only makes people goosebumps, but also makes people think deeply: even if the real Hitler does not come back, it does not mean that there will be no new "Hitler" returning to people.

　　Oliver Massatcher, a famous German actor who played Hitler, shared his feelings about filming the documentary footage in an interview with the German media: When he appeared on the road as Hitler, he gradually noticed that people would easily believe in his role, which he said was worrying, but also showed the state of German society today.

　　"People must pay attention to who is elected in elections, because not only Hitler is the devil, but so are all the voters who elected him." Masac said.

Foreign cross-country dramas reject historical frivolity

　　"International Herald Herald" reporter Chen Xuelian Ma Xiaoyun from Beijing, Tokyo In recent years, when the theme of crossing has been almost played by the creators of Chinese and foreign film and television dramas, gradually, just like the process of gold panning under the mud and sand, some excellent and meaningful cross-genre film and television dramas have gradually emerged and been well received by the audience. Compared with the "fast food" quality of some domestic cross-genre works, "light history, heavy drama", foreign excellent cross-over film and television dramas seem to be thicker, and the historical details and plot settings are more elaborate and exquisite.

Meticulous restoration of history

　　For fans of Sino-US cross-genre film and television dramas, it is not difficult to find the difference between the two. Most of the Chinese traversal works like to travel back to the past, such as "In Search of Qin", and countless "Qing Palace Crossing Dramas" represented by "Step by Step" and "Palace". However, Hollywood in the United States plays crossing, mostly through the future and cosmic space. For example, movies such as "Back to the Future" series, "Time Machine", "Planet of the Apes", "Falling in Love with You Through Time" and the American drama "Time Traveler" and so on. Such works often need to reconstruct a complete and scrutinized system theory, and naturally require a lot of human, material and financial resources. For example, Christopher Nolan's sci-fi blockbuster "Interstellar", the script writing alone took nearly seven years, in order to ensure the scientific rigor of the construction theory, Nolan also invited Stephen Hawking's friend and physicist Kip S. Thorne of the California Institute of Technology to deeply participate in the script creation.

　　American director John Dahl was not convinced by the ridicule of Uncle Sam for having only a pitifully short history of more than two hundred years and rarely traveled to the past, so he directed "The Stranger" (aka "Legend of the Ancient Battlefield"), which tells the story of modern English people crossing to ancient Scotland, and the first season of the show just ended this year.

　　Adapted from the novel of the same name published in 1991 by the famous American novelist Diana Gabarden, the play tells the story of Claire, a married English war nurse who traveled to Scotland in 1743 by chance in 1945, although she loved her husband as a historian and tried to return to the modern era, but because her life was threatened, she was forced to marry a heroic and romantic Scottish warrior, and gradually fell in love with him, experiencing the bitter and sweet life of ancient Scotland.

　　Unlike the vulgar crossing story, "The Stranger" does not only use history as the background for crossing, but also allows the audience to immerse themselves in history with the characters. Claire's unusual "modern" abilities in the film did not make her a "goddess" in ancient Scotland, but made her a foreigner and struggled to survive in Scotland, where there was no lack of hostility towards the English. And her abilities aroused both respect and suspicion—in an era when there were absolutely no female doctors, a woman who could heal was called a "healer" (healer), and if she was not careful, she would clash with religion and become a witch allied with the devil and burned to death. This ambitious plot setting cuts down the story's legendary character and attempts to lead to an examination of the differences between ancient and modern times.

　　As the title "Stranger" suggests, this cross-over story is essentially about a modern person's process of understanding, looking at, and adapting to antiquity. The original author spent considerable energy in the library consulting historical materials, which eventually turned into nuanced depictions of ancient Scottish politics, religion, customs, etc., and their conflict with modern ideas.

Reflect on today's problems

　　The Japanese drama "Ren Yi" tells the story of a modern brain surgeon who travels to the Edo period in Japan. The second season, which aired in 2011, averaged 20.6 percent, the last episode had a 26.1 percent rating, and the second season had been sold to 80 countries and territories before it aired. The show won a total of 33 awards in its two seasons.

　　The success of "Ren Doctor" lies in the fact that the drama does not take the emotional line as the main line, but in the narrative, the three lines of medical practice, emotion and history are blended together.

　　More importantly, "Ren Yi" adheres to the consistent style of Japanese medical dramas that popularize medical knowledge in large quantities, closely intertwining ancient and modern, history and individual, ideal and reality processes, and finally expounding the mainstream values of modern medical ethics and medical system. The close-up shot in the play directly captures the condition of the brain plasma after the craniotomy and various internal organs of the abdominal cavity, and the scene is realistic. Although the cross-over drama belongs to the imaginative story structure, the screenwriter has worked the details of surgery and other details.

　　The play's handling of historical details is also quite exquisite. Although it is a cross-over drama, it basically and truly restores historical events and characters, and is very serious about the examination and handling of historical details such as the folk style of the Edo period, and can even be compared with the rigorous Ōkawa drama. The second season of "Ren Yi" incorporates many allusions to Japan's modern and contemporary history.

　　Another Japanese drama about ancient samurai crossing to the modern era to become a "family master" for single mothers in the workplace, "Moon Generation Head Pudding", focuses on how an ancient person integrates into modern life, and a series of differences and contradictions between him and modern people in life, thus triggering a family problem that is worthy of reflection and is really prevalent.

　　In addition, the film has a certain depth of thought. Although the ancient samurai spirit has limitations, there are also many remarkable things that the samurai who have crossed over have insisted on when educating their children. For example, he taught boys to "have courage", "keep promises", "treat others with courtesy", and "boys have tears and do not flick" and other valuable qualities.