By Erin Pike, JTNews Correspondent
Germany, 1933: Two performers, Siegfried Meyer and Hans Zeisig, star in a Hitler/Stalin comedy act. As Hitler gains power and control, Meyer joins the resistance and Zeisig is asked to portray increasingly offensive Jewish stereotypes. With conditions in Germany growing worse each day, Zeisig decides to leave for Hollywood, but due to a lack of proper paperwork, ends up in Moscow at Hotel Lux instead.
The film follows Zeisig into the hotel, a Communist home for exiles, bursting with rats and paranoia. There, he runs into Meyer’s friend, Frida von Oorten, a woman in whom Zeisig has developed a romantic interest. The two continue to cross paths as Zeisig, through mistaken identities and general hijinks, gains Communist rank and security by acting as Stalin’s astrologist.
Written and directed by Leander Haussmann, “Hotel Lux” is a pleasant combination of comedy, romance, and adventure, set against a dark backdrop of political and social upheaval. Because of its comedic tone, the story’s moments of violence and tragedy hit a bit harder; the comedy provides a more realistic gauge for such horrific events that were commonplace during that time.
The heart of the story is in the strength and subtle flexibility of Zeisig. Somehow, he finds a way to fearlessly hold on to his own identity, even as he must shift into other identities so he can survive. The film does an excellent job of making this constant, delicate unevenness palpable; every knock on the door could be Hitler or Stalin, the rifle could be aimed at anyone, any faucet could be bugged with a listening device by the government. The fear is crippling, and yet Zeisig, forced to notice the political reality that he was initially indifferent to, continues on.
Dark setting aside, there is a quality of magic in “Hotel Lux” provided by the glamour of the era’s style, and the interesting nature of real-life performance in the most dire of situations. At times, the shifts between scenes — a constant push against the boundaries of what it means, in a metaphorical sense, to be on-stage or off — evoke Baz Luhrmann-style theatrics. “Hotel Lux” also employs the use of Chaplin-esque depictions to highlight situational absurdities of the Nazi and Communist regimes — effective, disturbing, and also hilarious.
“Hotel Lux” is a visual and emotional delight: It is an enjoyable tale of love, friendship, and how a sense of humor and a predisposition for rebellion and mischief may truly be the most necessary traits in life.