The Boys from Brazil (1978) * * *

Directed by:  Franklin J. Schaffner

Starring:  Laurence Olivier, Gregory Peck, James Mason, Jeremy Black, Steve Guttenberg, Uta Hagen

After Dr. Josef Mengele (Peck) is involved in a fistfight at a gathering of escaped Nazis in 1970's Paraguay, another man asks if there is a doctor in the house.   "I AM a doctor," Mengele asserts, and we have to acclimate ourselves to this fact.   This is a man responsible for thousands of deaths and disfigurements in Nazi concentration camps during World War II, but indeed was a medical doctor.   He took the Hippocratic oath to do no harm, and then did harm thousands of times over.   He conducted human experiments and selected those who would be gassed.    Hitler would not have been able to carry out his final solution if people like Mengele weren't so eager to assist him.  

The monster known as Josef Mengele escaped capture and fled to South America.   He was among the most hunted escaped Nazis, and evaded justice.    He drowned in 1979 following a stroke while swimming, but his body wasn't found until 1985 because he was buried under a false name.   The Boys from Brazil presents alternative history mixed with harrowing science fiction, and it was made at a time in which the capture of escaped Nazis was still a very real possibility.   

Mengele (Peck) is discovered by novice Nazi hunter Barry Kohler (Guttenberg) to be meeting secretly in Paraguay with other high-ranking Nazis.   Kohler presents his evidence to Ezra Lieberman (Olivier), who at first dismisses the sighting, but after Kohler is killed trying to obtain further evidence, Lieberman travels to Paraguay to hunt Mengele.   Lieberman stumbles across a plot calling for 94 men in different parts of the world to be killed.    Why would 94 random, unrelated men on different continents be executed?   The reason leads to the unearthing of a plot which is terrifying even now:  Mengele has created numerous clones of Adolf Hitler, and is plotting to turn the thirteen-year-old boys into the next Fuhrer.   Besides genealogical factors, Mengele needs to recreate the exact family and social environments which will allow the cloned Hitlers to thrive.

Cloning is 1978 was merely a fantasy, but in the past forty years, the practice has made advances.    We may not be able to clone humans yet, but it may not be far off.     The screenplay by Heywood Gould brings all of the pseudo-science and Nazism together plausibly, with Peck, who was normally the epitome of good and pure, relishing his villainous role.   Olivier's Lieberman is elderly and fading, but keeps up his dogged pursuit of Mengele.   If you ever wanted to see a physical showdown between Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier, this is your movie.    I found the premise challenging, with moral implications it doesn't sidestep.   One of the best scenes in the movie is a conversation between a doctor and Lieberman in which they discuss the possibility of cloning.   The doctor is thrilled at such an evolution in science, but with every word, Lieberman's expression clearly reveals that he has figured out Mengele's endgame, and it is horrifying. 

Is it possible Mengele himself saw or heard about this movie while hiding out in South America?   The Boys from Brazil wasn't afraid to name him as its villain, because what was he going to do?   Sue for defamation of character?