Mother Night (1996)

 

IMDb plot summary: An American spy behind the lines during WWII serves as a Nazi propagandist, a role he cannot escape in his future life as he can never reveal his real role in the war.

Directed by Keith Gordon. Starring Nick Nolte, Sheryl Lee, John Goodman, and Alan Arkin.

Mother Night is an adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's novel about Howard Campbell, a writer who is begrudgingly recruited as an American spy to encode hidden messages in the Nazi propaganda he broadcasts. Now that the war is over, the Americans will not claim him as theirs for fear of revealing their espionage methods, so as far as anyone knows, he's just another war criminal. I like what Roger Ebert said in his review of the film: "The dilemma Vonnegut sets [the main character] is that he cannot jump off the ship it was convenient for him to sail through the war on." At one point Campbell is confronted with the question of whether he'd have been content to live in prosperity under Nazi regime had the Germans won, and truth be told, he probably would have. It's easy to skate by on convenience in the face of evil. Last month I criticized the 2020 film The Hunt for (maybe) advocating a "just take care of yourself" attitude to politics, and here Campbell tried to do just that, but ended up doing much more in self-preservation, and now doesn't even have the comfort of knowing he was following his conscience. The film's absurd side characters are less engaging than its more philosophical moments, but it's a solid adaptation, and one I think I'd recommend.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Mother Night > The Baby-Sitters Club

Mother Night < The Road Warrior

Mother Night < The Terminal

Mother Night > Black Snake Moan

Mother Night > The Magnificent Ambersons

Mother Night > A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Mother Night > The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

Mother Night < Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Mother Night < 12 Years a Slave

Mother Night < Nothing in Common

Mother Night < Mr. Holmes

Mother Night > Brick

Final spot: #1225 out of 3203, or 62%.