In 1967 Ira Levin became famous thanks to Rosemary’s Baby, his best-selling novel about biblical Antichrist being born and raised in modern-day New York. Few years later Levin wrote The Boys from Brazil, another novel with similar theme of apocalyptic evil being groomed in modern world, although more grounded in hard science and real history. Like Rosemary’s Baby, it was quickly adapted for the silver screen, resulting in eponymous 1978 thriller directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, one of the most effective and most critically underrated films of its time.
One of two main characters is Dr. Josef Mengele, German scientist who, as a member of SS during WW2, conducted medical experiments on children at Auschwitz concentration camp, which brought him nickname “Angel of Death” and made him one of the most notorious Nazi war criminals. Despite his notoriety, after the war he managed to escape to Latin America and spent decades successfully evading attempts to locate him and bring him to justice. The plot begins in Paraguay where Barry Kohler (played by Steve Guttenberg), young American Jewish activist, appears to succeed where so many failed. He stumbles into Mengele (played by Gregory Peck) attending conference of other exiled high-ranking Nazis and records details of Mengele ordering the murder of 94 men in various countries. Kohler gets killed, but not before giving information to Ezra Lieberman (played by Laurence Olivier), elderly Nazi hunter from Vienna, who, despite poor health, travels around the globe to investigate suspicious deaths of people who might have been part of Mengele’s diabolical plan. He finds that all men were 65-year old civil servants and all have 13-year old sons who, despite having different parents in different parts of the world, look almost exactly the same.
Many critics rejected The Boys from Brazil because they found its plot “preposterous” despite real life Mengele, just like its fictional counterpart, successfully hiding during the premiere (only to die few months later, which would be revealed to the world in 1985). Some even called the main premise – explained to the audience in a scene where Lieberman gets brief lecture by scientist played by Bruno Ganz - “unscientific” despite premiere nearly coinciding with related advances in genetics and medical technology, including the birth of Louise Brown, world’s first “test tube baby”. Critics would have more justification if they concentrated on casting, which in case of Gregory Peck wasn’t completely fortunate. Peck, who had built the reputation by playing heroic and sometimes even saintly protagonists, obviously liked the opportunity to portray something quite opposite, but his role often succumbs into overacting closer to parody.
Laurence Olivier, who had recently played another diabolical Nazi villain in Marathon Man also liked the idea of portraying something quite opposite. He played Lieberman (based on real life character of famous Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal) while his health is declining, but this condition actually helped the role, making the film’s protagonist look frail, world-weary and his task difficult, both in confronting danger and difficult ethical dilemma encountered at the very end. In this endeavour he was helped by other members of the cast who successfully play supporting and sometimes potentially thankless roles. But the greatest asset of the film is the steady hand of director Franklin J. Schaffner, who superbly brings audience to the complicated plot with many characters and various world locations, all with the help of cinematography by Henri Decaës and another great soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith. Despite critics’ enmity, Boys from the Brazil was quite memorable film, and its value rose through the years, with advances in biotechnology making its sinister premise even more disturbing. The film looks even disturbing today, when certain powerful people in their tweets openly celebrate how all those pesky (sub)humans put under lockdowns make this a cleaner and better world, espousing views not so different from this film’s main villain.
RATING: 8/10 (++)
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