Mother Night (1996)

 

                    “Mother Night” is based on a story by Kurt Vonnegut, so you know it’s not going to be normal.  Vonnegut has a cameo in the film.  It was directed by Keith Gordon (“A Midnight Clear”).  It is the story of a playwright named Howard Campbell (Nick Nolte) who gets caught up in espionage in Germany in WWII.  

                    The movie opens with Campbell arriving at an Israeli prison in 1961.  He is put in a cell below Adolf Eichmann.  He is given three weeks to write his memoirs.  The implication is that he will be executed as a war criminal.  Cue the flashbacks, with narration by Campbell via his memoirs.  He was born in America and emigrated to Berlin where he becomes a successful playwright.  In 1938, he meets a shady character named Frank Wirtanen (John Goodman) who recruits him as a spy.  Campbell looks upon it as playing a role.  He becomes like an intellectual Lord Haw Haw.  He gives pro-Fascist and anti-semitic speeches on the radio.  The speeches have code words in them.  Wirtanen may be spying for the Allies, but he sure seems sincere in the bile he spews.  Is it just an act?  He doesn’t shun rubbing shoulders with the Nazi brass, like Goebbels.  When the war ends, Wirtanen arranges for a change of identity and an apartment in New York City.  He’s in purgatory.  It’s a boring existence, but it's about to get messy.

                    This is an odd, but interesting film.  It is anchored by a great performance from Nick Nolte and the rest of the cast is strong.  The flashback/memoir format works well.  The prison scenes are shot in black and white.  Campbell comes off as a sympathetic character until you realize he believed what he was broadcasting and his motives for being a spy are not patriotic.  It’s not a spy thriller.  He has no close calls.  Although I would say it is a war movie, only a small part of it is set in the war.  The majority of the scenes are set in NYC.  His dreary life takes a turn to the bizarre when he gets outed.  It jumps the shark with the black Fuhrer of Harlem enters.  And Campbell encounters his beloved dead wife’s sister (Sheryl Lee) who is masquerading as her.  Did I mention it is not a comedy? 

                    I put off seeing “Mother Night” for a number of years.  I thought it would be too artsy for me and I wondered if it was really a war movie.  I’m glad I got around to it.  It is an entertaining movie with some intriguing characters (not counting the black Fuhrer) and a great performance by Nick Nolte.  And it has a satisfying ending. 

 

GRADE  =  B