My Neighbour Adolf Review | Road Rash Reviews

3 stars, a bizzarely light-hearted take on the Holocaust.

My Neighbour Adolf is a 2022 black comedy, written by Dmitry Malinsky (Max & Millie) and Leon Prudovsky (Five Hours From Paris), who also directs. It is available in cinemas from 4th November 2022 and Digital Platforms in the UK from 14th November 2022 courtesy of Signature Entertainment.

“You can stick your law deep in your **s and get out of my yard now.”

The film opens in 1934, as we see a happy Polish Jewish family enjoying their garden. Marek Polsky (Jan Szugajew) is a chess champion teaching his children to play as his wife tends to their roses and having a family picture taken.

Move forward to 1960 and Mr. Polsky (David Hayman – Raven’s Hollow, The Corrupted) now lives alone in a run down house in Colombia, having lost his family to the Nazi’s during the holocaust. He lives as a recluse, even scratching the phone number off the for sale sign on next doors house so as not to be disturbed. He spends his days tending to his black roses.

That all changes one day with the arrival of Frau Kaltenbrunner (Olivia Silhavy – Woman in Gold, A Rose in Winter) at his door, demanding to buy the property next door for a German man from Argentina. In moves Herman Herzog (Udo Kier – Downsizing, Swan Song), a bad tempered German with a big noisy dog who interferes with Mr. Polsky’s roses.

Following a boundary dispute, he goes to his house and comes face to face with him for the first time. As soon as he sees his eyes, he realises to his horror that his next door neightbour is none other than the Fuhrer himself, Adolf Hitler. He recognises him from a chess tournament years before and heads straight to the Israeli Intellingence Officer (Kineret Peled – Zodiac Land).

She doesn’t believe him and demands proof, so Mr. Polsky sets about gathering evidence any way he can. Could it really be him?

“I remember those eyes. I met him. World Chess Championship in Berlin in ’34. He came to finals for a few minutes and I pass him in corridor.”

My Neighbour Adolf is a strange idea for a film. While I did find it amusing on occasion, however funny the jokes, it’s hard to shake the feeling that maybe the Holocaust is not an appropriate suject for a comedy.

Having said that, it’s an enjoyable film, with excellent performances from the two leads, who bounce off each other really well. It certainly keeps you guessing right to the end, which is always good and the stark filming style lends atmosphere very nicely.

It’s also an interesting look at the lasting trauma caused by Nazi Germany to so many poeple. If you can manage not to be offended by the subject matter then this film is certainly worth a watch.

“There is nothing solid Mr. Polsky, because your neighbour is not Hitler. Because Hitler is dead.”