Munich (Edge of War) 2022
The critics generally liked this film – which I saw on Netflix – but I was underwhelmed.
Why?
The central relationship between Neville Chamberlain’s PPS Hugh Legat (George Mackay) and Paul von Hartmann (Janis Niewohner) stretched credulity.
They were at Oxford together, both were attracted to Lenya (Liv Liese Fries), and rose, respectively, in Chamberlain’s government and Hitler’s Nazi Party, to senior positions.
Hartmann despised Nazism and was willing to hand over Hitler’s expansionist Lebensraum speech to Legat as proof of the Fuhrer’s real intent and in order to scupper the Munich talks.
It seems impossible that Hartmann – a translator – would not have been more carefully vetted and watched.
The other weakness is creeping diversity.
A key secretary in the service of Chamberlain and part of the Munich entourage was played by Asian actress Anji Mohatra.
She turned out to be the niece of British spymaster Stuart Menzies.
We critics love to spot goofs: in this film Hitler, who was left-handed, signed the accord with his right; two of the towers of Battersea Power station were visible – despite the fact that at the time they had yet to be built – so how could an English grandee have an Asian niece?
The best element of the film was the portrayal of Chamberlain by Jeremy Irons.
He is an actor that combines an aloof sense of entitlement with inner vulnerability and – although he looked more like Anthony Eden than Chamberlain – was perfect for the role.
Historians will still question whether he was being adept in buying time or was gulled by Hitler.
After all he missed two opportunities to thwart Hitler when he invaded the Rheinland and Sudetenland and Britain remained neutral in the Spanish Civil War.
Nonetheless the depiction of Chamberlain – and that of Berlin ambassador Sir Horace Wilson by Alex Jennings – engaged this viewer in a way that Legat and Hartmann did not.
The production had a German director Christian Schwochow and principally German cast.
This does show how far German cinema has gone from the propaganda of Josef Goebbels and the UFA studios.
