MovieChat Forums > The Grey Zone (2001) Discussion > Mengele, the directorial indulgence

Mengele, the directorial indulgence

posted 8 years ago by ObscureAuteur
1 reply | jump to latest

A barely excusable detail that mars an otherwise outstanding movie. Joseph Mengele is made to look like Colonel Klink (or worse, Dr. Evil), the style of Nazi played by Otto Preminger in the old days, the stereotype of the bald evil Nazi. The actual Mengele in 1945 had a full head of thick black hair. The director deserves a swat for this indulgence in stereotyping in such an important role, that undercuts the authority of the rest. This is not a legitimate artistic license in a movie with this movie's pretensions.

CB

Good Times, Noodle Salad

[–] felstein 7 years ago

I agree. They made the character bald so as to make him more hateful (at least in Hollywood's mind).

As a bald man, I am deeply offended by the way Hollywood treats our kind. Those follicly-challenged actors fortunate enough to play heroic roles (Willis, Statham, Diesel, The Rock) are few and far between. Most of the time when a character is a villain, a creep, a pervert, a wimp, a coward, or just generally monstrous or unsympathetic, it is almost always played by a bald actor. Conversely, when a bald actor appears, he is almost always playing such a character.

Imagine if an ethnic minority was treated the same way in the movies (the American ones, anyway) that bald men are.