Film Review: Iron Sky

Certificate: 15
Directed By: Timo Vuorensola
Cast: Julia Dietze, Udo Kier, Peta Sergeant, Kym Jackson, Götz Otto, Stephanie Paul, Christopher Kirby, Monika Gossmann, Tilo Prückner, Michael Cullen
Budget: €7.5 million
Runtime: 93 minutes
Trailer: Watch

When an American president (Paul) strangely resembling Sarah Palin launches a mission to the moon in a cynical election ploy, the lunar expedition stumble upon a colony of Nazis who managed to escape the failure of World War II. After seventy-years of hiding out on the moon, it is time for them to return...

The pseudo-history of occult practices in the Third Reich isn't the only conspiracy theory surrounding what 'really' went down in Nazi Germany. All sorts of wild myths have sprung up in the wake of WWII, ranging from most of the Nazi leadership (including Hitler himself) escaping to South America by U-Boat to there being secret bases in Antarctica which are supposedly still populated today. In one of the more batshit crazy branches of this alternate history it is posited that the Nazis had managed to build a fleet of flying saucers which were designated 'Haunebu'. For conspiracists at least these craft supposedly explain the very real phenomenon of what allied pilots called 'foo fighters'. What's more, these theories aren't always seen as mutually exclusive, some imaginative souls having gone to great lengths in piecing together an admittedly fascinating secret history of the war. With regards to Nazi UFOs, the theory often stems from the fact that, at the time, the Third Reich was technically the most advanced nation on Earth, building the world's first ballistic missiles as well as deploying the first frontline jet fighters. Such advances lead many to believe that these were only the tip of Nazi ingenuity, who were actually much further ahead than anyone could imagine. This is certainly true insofar that at the end of the war the Allies scrambled to capture German scientists in hope to learn their secrets. Wernher von Braun for example was thrust into the highest echelons of NASA, his rocket knowledge essential in propelling the United States to the moon a mere twenty-four years later.

'History lesson' out of the way then, one can see that the premise behind space oddity Iron Sky isn't just some half-baked concept which Finnish creator Timo Vuorensola came up with when he was stoned. Well, actually it probably was, but it does have a grounding in a very peculiar yet intriguing subculture. That aside this isn't a film which takes itself very seriously, a prime example of a B-movie if ever there was one. Nazis on the moon back to restore the glorious Fatherland? With an added sheen of kitsch and camp, this is firmly planted in the realms of Mel Brook's The Producers. Iron Sky is daft beyond reason, one of those films you can't believe they actually made and one which is more than proud to be called 'trash'. And here is where the debate about the film begins. Mainstream critics have berated Iron Sky, while obviously trash, for being bad trash. For some, it is nothing more than a poster, a gag, and little else. Yet one might feel obliged to question such statements where those making them clearly don't know what to expect from a trash movie.

Sure, there are many things wrong with Iron Sky. It certainly could have gone through another round of script editing, some of the dialogue and jokes in definite need of tightening up. But Iron Sky also elicits a multitude of genuine laughs. Certainly, the brilliant thing about the premise of having 'Mondnazis' is the pretext it gives for some enjoyably silly gags. One particularly sharp one for example is how the Nazi schoolchildren on the moon only have access to an edited version of Charlie Chaplin's biting satire, The Great Dictator, which is viewed as a celebration of Hitler and not the mockery of him it is. As well as digs at the obnoxious Nazi architecture championed by Albert Speer (their moon fortress is in the shape of a swastika), there are also some amusing bites at the Nazi obsession with Wagner. Their super-duper battleship for example is named the 'Götterdämmerung', after one of his operas. Likewise, deadly electrified fascist salutes and buttons labelled "National Anthem; break glass for morale!" can't help but bring at least a smirk.

Perhaps one of the most interesting things about Iron Sky is how it is a completely fan-funded project. The €7.5 million it cost to make came mostly from people around the world desperate to see Timo's 2008 short CGI showcase made into a full feature. Certainly it is a unique funding model which may well evolve in the future, but what's more impressive is how well the small budget is stretched. Not only have they somehow managed to attract recognised actors in Udo Kier and Michael Cullen to this crazy spectacle, but the special effects are top notch and worthy of any Hollywood blockbuster. And it's not just that the effects look cool, but that they're also incredibly well designed as Nazi spacecraft are all gears and levers like a technology that has barely advanced since the 1940s. Yes it's all very silly and in keeping with the kitsch aesthetic of the film, but it is nonetheless very visually impressive.

The biggest let down about Iron Sky is its script. While the film is totally self-aware of its B-movie pastiche, you can't help but feel irritated by how directionless a lot of it is. In many instances it feels a lot like a GCSE drama lesson where this could have benefited greatly from a more taut structure. Indeed, with a more developed script it could have been something special. As it stands however this will still garner the cult following it was expected to generate. Sheer lunar-cy.

Film Review: Melancholia

While the idea of interplanetary collision might seem ridiculous there are those who take the hypothesis very seriously, genuinely believing that the ending of the Mayan calendar in 2012 coincides with the return of a tenth planetoid to our solar system. Known as 'Nibiru', the planet is said to be in a 3,600 year elliptical orbit and is supposedly due to wreak havoc on Earth either by crashing into it or passing so close that it will fuck with the weather, tectonic plates and cause polar shifts. You would think that with less than a year and a half to go we'd be able to see it in the sky by now but the reason as to why we cannot, allegedly, is because it's approaching from the direction of the sun. Regardless, I'm guessing this is the inspiration director Lars von Trier took for his latest film, Melancholia.

You could be forgiven for thinking that you just walked in on the beginning of The Tree of Life given Melancholia's similar opening. We start with a lengthy overture to Wagner's 'Tristan & Isolde' over a compilation of mesmerising cosmic images. Cut to slow-motion captures of an impassive Kirsten Dunst in some eerie apocalyptic world where birds drop from the sky around her. Then a horse falls over, before cutting back to space as a beautiful celestial body slams into the Earth. It's somewhat disorientating to essentially stick 'the end' first, but one might imagine it was done for the purpose of setting a tone and framing subsequent proceedings in Von Trier's perspective on life. Jumping back to Earth we find a limo struggling to navigate its way round a tight bend. Newlyweds Michael (Skargård) and Justine (Dunst) are on the way to their very expensive reception organised by Justine's sister, Claire (Gainsbourg), and paid for by her gasbag husband John (Sutherland). Family tensions erupt and the wedding teeters on the brink of catastrophe as family dynamics and the dysfunctionalities therein are revealed. But maybe it was written in the stars because a rogue planet named Melancholia is hurtling toward Earth on a collision course. As the planet nears, otherwise level-headed Claire begins to break-down while clinically depressed Justine torpidly accepts the end of the world.

Melancholia is Von Trier's comeback from the universally panned Antichrist. The tortured director tried to explain that his work painted a picture of his own depression, and it seems to be much the same case here. Whatever you might think of Von Trier, he certainly has a knack for riling people and generating debate. His most admirable quality, whether it offends or not, is to daringly confront taboo subjects people would rather ignore at the risk of public ridicule. His works exists not to appeal to the masses, but to expunge his own troubled mind. And what a dark mind it is. The central thrust of Melancholia is thus; life is futile and meaningless where people's lives and problems are inconsequential, holding them up against grand cosmic images only to highlight how trivial they are. Even the film's setting, a stateless and featureless location in which a big empty house rests is indicative of this, personifying themes of loneliness and emptiness. As if adding insult to injury, Von Trier very matter of factly ends the world in such an understated and gentle way as if no one will realise we were ever there. It's all rather jarring just how Melancholia's themes are treated in such an abrasively calm manner. Not that all this matters anyway.

At its core Melancholia is a tale of two sisters, Justine's unravelling proving particularly enthralling to watch. At first seen as a pretty, level-headed young woman, her behaviour gradually becomes more abnormal to the point where she threatens to disrupt the entire wedding reception. Given the allusions to her loving, yet always absent father (Hurt), coupled with a miserable, recalcitrant and unsupportive mother (Rampling) it's not difficult to see why she's so screwed up. Justine suffers from depression, a deliberate pathetic fallacy given that a planetary body named 'Melancholia' is about to smash into the Earth. But unlike in Antichrist, Justine isn't just another one of Von Trier's misogynistic caricatures. Rather, she is clearly troubled in a manner that can only correspond to Von Trier's own dark view on existence. As the planet gets nearer Justine's volatility gives way to serenity, experiencing visions of clarity alluding to a unique universal perspective only she is privy to. While clearly unhinged it is ironically Justine's nihilism which better prepares her for the coming calamity as she emerges from the film as the strongest character. Sister, Claire, is portrayed as order to Justine's chaos, the more rational and bourgeois of the two. It is her conventional approach to life, her belief in established societal 'norms' which cause her to become increasingly agitated when all is threatened. Von Trier fiendishly toys with this premise, taking regular people so convinced in the meaning and purpose of human structures only to shatter them as nothing more than meaningless illusions. Likewise Von Trier takes great pleasure felicitously putting the smug braggart John in his place. It's actually quite absorbing to watch these role reversals, exposing the jejune attitudes considered 'normal' in society. Indeed, Justine comes out of events looking relatively sane compared to everybody else sleepwalking through life with a normalcy bias.

Like all good science fiction, this is a piece which explores humanity and our place in the universe by examining how we react under extreme circumstances. Yes, there are some big sci-fi bloopers here and many will baulk at the scientific plausibility of it all, particularly at how a giant planet inches away from Earth doesn't seem to affect the weather or tides. Indeed, planet Melancholia merely remains a big CGI orb hovering ominously overhead for the most part. But then I suppose that would be to miss the point in that we couldn't be further removed from Roland Emmerich territory here. This is first and foremost a female-focussed melodrama and an apocalyptic destruction movie second. If you came to watch people running around like headless chickens while famous landmarks burn then this won't be for you.

Melancholia is a perturbing film, at peace with ideas of nothingness, the futility of life, that we're alone in the universe, no one is coming to help us, and ultimately mankind's extinction. Wagner is used to excellent effect, syncing perfectly with the mood of the film. Like The Tree of Life, if you're going to do any serious philosophical pondering you cannot feasibly do so unless it's to a score from one of history's greatest classical composers. Anything less epic just wouldn't work. In this way I suppose you could point to similarities between the two, although Melancholia follows a more linear and traditional format. Performances are strong throughout, naturalistic in what almost seems like a fly-on-the wall experience. Dunst is excellent with the material and this should be recognised as her breakthrough performance in much the same way as Natalie Portman in Black Swan. Strange, and yet strangely alluring.