Johannes Naber: Last News

Andreas Wiseman International EditorGerman Films has released a list of ten films that were submitted by German producers for consideration to become the country’s International Feature Oscar contender.Among the front-runners for selection are likely to be Julia Von Heinz’s And Tomorrow The Entire World, Caroline Link’s When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, Burhan Qurbani’s Berlin Alexanderplatz and Christian Petzold’s Undine.The ten films:•    WHEN HITLER STOLE PINK RABBIT – Caroline Link (Sommerhaus Filmproduktion) •    BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ – Burhan Qurbani (Sommerhaus Filmproduktion) •    CRESCENDO #MAKEMUSICNOTWAR – Dror Zahavi (CCC-Filmkunst) •    CURVEBALL – Johannes Naber (Bon Voyage Films) •    A WET DOG – Damir Lukacevic (Carte Blanche

Farce is not a genre we commonly associate with the Germans, but then, as “Curveball” reminds us at the outset, this wildly atypical Teutonic satire — which plays like a cross between “Wag the Dog” and “Dr. Strangelove” in its portrayal of incompetence at the highest levels — is “A true story. Unfortunately.” More mea culpa than comedy, assuming/assigning responsibility for the role Germany played in helping George W. Bush settle a score with Saddam Hussein, director Johannes Naber’s nutso sendup of the unreliable intelligence source whose testimony served as the justification for the U.S. to invade Iraq in 2003 has no trouble being outrageous. The challenge comes down to being funny in the process.