The name Josef Mengele, Hitler’s so-called ‘Angel of Death’, will probably be familiar to you. He was the subject of Franklin Schaffner’s Oscar-winning thriller (and World Cup rent-a-headline) **The Boys From Brazil **and his clammy presence returns to the big screen with Argentine drama Wakolda. The film has a first-look trailer and a new poster to share its take on one of science’s most warped villains.
Released in the US under the name The German Doctor, **Wakolda **is set in Patagonia in 1960. Mengele (Alex Brendemühl), ensconced in Argentina after his escape from Nazi Germany 15 years earlier, has wormed his way into the trust of a young family who run a hotel in the icy boondocks. However, as the saying probably goes: ‘Once a Nazi scumbag, always a Nazi scumbag’, and soon he’s back pursuing his interest in eugenics on the youngest member of the clan, Lilith (Florencia Bado). Unusually, this one is directed and adapted by Lucia Puenzo from her own novel. Early word of mouth suggests she’s done an impressive job of bring dimensions to a man it would be easy just to demonise. See for yourself when the film gets its UK theatrical release on August 8.