Filmhuis Sneek: Das Verschwinden des Josef Mengele

With the help of SS soldiers and the support of wealthy South American families, he goes into hiding in Argentina - until the manhunt for him is also opened here. From Buenos Aires to Paraguay, and deep into the Brazilian jungle, "The Angel of Death" organizes his methodical disappearance and evades any trial. When his son finds him, however, Mengele is confronted with a past he can no longer deny.

Das Verschwinden des Josef Mengele is a psychologically penetrating, visually hypnotic portrait of one of the most elusive war criminals, who managed to stay out of the hands of the authorities until the day of his death. Director Kirill Serebrennikov (Leto, Petrov's Flu) adapted Olivier Guez's award-winning novel into a haunting cat-and-mouse game between memory, oblivion, guilt and denial. As such, his film is both an uncompromising unmasking of the darkest depths of the human soul and a mirror of our current, troubling times. Das Verschwinden des Josef Mengele had its world premiere at the Cannes Festival where the film was highlighted by August Diehl's outstanding performance as deals the implacable Nazi executioner.