Der letzte Befehl (1928)
8KDer letzte Befehl: Directed by Josef von Sternberg. With Emil Jannings, Evelyn Brent, William Powell, Jack Raymond. A former Imperial Russian general and cousin of the Czar ends up in Hollywood as an extra in a movie directed by a former revolutionary.
“I saw a preview screening of this in London.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs expected from Sachau0026#39;s previous outings and trailers, this film is in extremely bad taste with plenty of filth, blatant offence (disguised as naivety) of every race, gender, age, animal, disability, sexual orientations, terrorism and politics. Sacha gets away with it because no one is left out. No one, including white folks and straight men. Actually, I lie. I donu0026#39;t know how the hell he gets away with it. The important question is, though, is it funny? Yeah…mostly.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere are enough roll in the isle moments to make this worth the ticket but there are also plenty of misfired jokes too, some of which really makes you groan but thatu0026#39;s to be expected for a relentless joke firing machine which incidentally has (perhaps mercifully) a short run time of 84mins. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnother burning question I ask myself, while watching this is do I feel guilty laughing at some of the offencive jokes? Yes I do, my guilty conscience raises its ugly head but then I realise (or perhaps Iu0026#39;m just making excuses) that I am laughing at the Dictatoru0026#39;s naivety and hilarious sense of misplaced morality while others around him frown at his demeanours.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis is a departure from the Borat, Ali G, and Bruno stable. With those previous films, real people are sought after and ridiculed by scrutinising their reactions and moral bases. This film, however is purely fictitious, Naked Gun style comedy very much similar to Eddie Murphyu0026#39;s Coming to America with obviously a lot lot less subtlety. However, Sachau0026#39;s Dictator has pretty much the same political correctness that Borat has but with more hilarious Dictatorship cravings such as executing anyone that annoys him.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eA good supporting cast thankfully gives this zany film a little bit more variety, particularly Anna Francis, comically playing off the Dictatoru0026#39;s character who frankly dominates almost every frame (as I guess a dictator would). John C Reilly also gives a short but hilarious turn. And then there are a few special cameo celebrity guest appearances (or victims, rather) sprinkled around. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere are a couple of moments political satire that stands out in hilarity and I wish there was more of it. Alas, it seems vulgarity is more favoured.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo if you have no guilty conscience, welcome vulgarity and all things u0026quot;un-pcu0026quot; with open arms, do not despise Sacha Cohen Baron and are willing to kiss his armpits (last one is optional), then I reckon you will enjoy this film. For me, filthy films are not my normal cup of tea, nevertheless I did enjoy this but I need a long shower after watching it.”
