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My Best Enemy

My Best Enemy (Mein bester Feind)

Movie · 2011 · 3 people

My Best Enemy, released in German as Mein bester Feind, is an Austrian and Luxembourgian co-production from 2011. It is filed under war film and drama, yet it is also described as a comedy, an unusual pairing for a story set under the Nazi regime. The film is in German, runs 109 minutes, and reached Austrian cinemas on 11 March 2011 and German ones on 1 September of the same year.

The story unfolds in Vienna during the Second World War and follows two boyhood friends. The new political order pulls Victor Kaufmann and Rudi Smekal apart: Victor, who comes from a Jewish family, is deported with his relatives to the Mauthausen concentration camp, while Rudi climbs through the ranks of the SS. When a Michelangelo drawing held by the Kaufmann family turns out to be a forgery, Victor's situation shifts unexpectedly, and after a plane crash the two former friends end up in each other's positions. Moritz Bleibtreu and Georg Friedrich share the lead roles, with Marthe Keller and Uwe Bohm also in the cast.

Wolfgang Murnberger directed and wrote the screenplay with Paul Hengge, working from Hengge's novel about how Victor Kaufmann managed to survive Hitler after all. The cast also includes Ursula Strauss, Udo Samel, Rainer Bock, Hans Michael Rehberg and Merab Ninidze.

DirectorWolfgang Murnberger

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Cast

Moritz Bleibtreu Moritz Bleibtreu Film actor · 55 years old Marthe Keller Marthe Keller Actor · 81 years old Uwe Bohm Uwe Bohm Actor · died at 60

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Through different eyes

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

Set in Vienna during the Second World War, the film shows how a new political order tears two boyhood friends apart: Victor, from a Jewish family, is deported with his relatives to Mauthausen, while Rudi rises through the SS. The contrast makes you think about how ordinary people can be swept down completely different paths under a regime. A Michelangelo drawing that turns out to be fake and a plane crash that swaps the two men's positions raise interesting questions about identity and power. But telling a story of concentration camps and Nazi persecution partly in a comic register is a risky choice, and it's understandable if some viewers find the tone too light for the weight of the subject.

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Working from Paul Hengge's novel, Wolfgang Murnberger tries to strike a difficult balance between war drama and comedy. The interplay between Moritz Bleibtreu and Georg Friedrich is the film's backbone; the reversal of power between two old friends lets both actors play their characters from two different positions. Plot turns like the forged Michelangelo drawing and the plane crash push the story towards a caper, which keeps the pace lively but costs it credibility. The film walks the line of treating a grave subject with a light formula and doesn't always convince. Still, it's a well-built European production that makes good use of its 109 minutes.

Yeşilçam Nostalgic A viewer raised on the classics, looking for warm storytelling and strong acting.

Stories in which friendship is tested by war and persecution always hold a special place, and this one follows two boyhood friends whose paths split apart. For eyes used to classic war dramas, its comic tone may be surprising at first, but the moral centre, built on friendship and betrayal, holds firm. Seeing a seasoned actress like Marthe Keller in the cast is a joy too. A film with a heart that leaves you thinking.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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