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To me, this movie is perfection.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

"Mein bester Feind" or "My Best Enemy", not to be mistaken for the Herzog-Kinski documentary with almost the same name, is an Austrian German-language film from 2011, so it has its 5th anniversary this year. The director and one of the writers is Wolfgang Murnberger, considered one of Austria's finest filmmakers at this point and same can be said about lead actor Georg Friedrich and supporting actress Ursula Strauss, in their respective fields of course. And last but not least, Moritz Bleibtreu is also extremely known, not only here in Germany. This film went for becoming a Nazi-themed comedy, which is always pretty difficult and I would not say they succeeded here during these slightly over 100 minutes. It is definitely not a failure and there are some good moments in here, but overall I just felt the script and plot were too absurd at times. Maybe I would have enjoyed this one more if I was not only interested in World War II films, but also in films about paintings and forgery as a big part of the plot deals with these issues. Bleibtreu was decent as expected, but not really that good, while Friedrich was the MVP and elevated the material by a lot through shining in some crucial scenes, such as the ending. All in all, despite the big names in the cast, also in smaller roles I haven't mentioned so far, I must say that I would not recommend the watch unless you are a huge Moritz Bleibtreu fan. The acting was good, but not good enough to make up for the bizarre story and screenplay. Thumbs down.

A big thanks to Netflix for the opportunity to see titles which otherwise might not get a second glance without media hype (remember "Das Boot" a few decades back?). Even in an "actioner", some of the impact is generally lost multi-tasking between reading subtitles and enjoying the imagery. "My Best Enemy" was a delight despite my lack of understanding the German language. It moved at an exciting pace, not too fast that I could not read along and enjoy the scenery but not so slow as to loose my interest. I do not recognize the names of any of the actors in the film but they created some very believable characters. The director and writer(s) told a wonderful story set in at a time in the past many would probably rather forget. A two thumbs up for "Mein bester Feind". I will be looking for more from Wolfgang Murnberger and his talented cast and crew! Kudos!!

This played at the Berlin International Film Festival. While the acting is good and the story checks every major plot point it should, it feels a bit constructed. It is very predictable, but still glamorous in a way. While it is entertaining enough to keep you in your seat and interested enough, you might not feel completely satisfied after all (especially if you see the end coming).You might also think that the theme of the second world war has been done enough already. But that shouldn't be the main focus of your attention. Again, it is entertaining and fun enough, but it is also very flawed. If you don't mind those flaws, you will like the movie.

The story line was entertaining for the full 109 minutes, with several unexpected turns to keep us awake. The film initially shows a short scene of an airplane that was shot, leaving only a few survivors. It immediately jumps back to what happened before, and returns half way to pick up the story after the plane crash. Regardless, the story line remains clear and interesting throughout, maybe even thanks to this flashback and forward.I saw this film at the 2011 Berlinale filmfestival on a Sunday morning as part of a large (over 1,500) audience. I can only assume that the majority was of German origin. I saw a cross section of nearly all ages present, maybe except people old enough to have actually lived during World War II. Nevertheless, a considerable part of the audience would have heard their fair share about this dark part of German history. Regardless of that being the main topic, all present were apparently enjoying what was shown on the screen.The scenario scratches the surface of the well-known good versus bad choices one can make to advance a career, or conversely to keep principles upright and refusing to go along with the common trends. I consider it logical that this film does not take a vigorous stand, being intended for general viewing, but still presenting the dilemma's in a compelling way.In conclusion I find that the film makers did a good job, by keeping the end product attractive for a broad public, and simultaneously not trying to evade the underlying problems of choices that everyone makes in a lifetime. After all, it is easy for us to judge those choices as bad. Upcoming Nazism before the World War II involved many such situations, and thus offers an infinite source of subjects for films like this one.However, these dilemma's are an inherent part of a broader issue. This is confined to neither the 1930-1945 time frame nor to Germany. I saw at least 5 other films that revolved around similar situations, all of them released in the last 12 months, based on recent developments in very different countries and regimes.