MOTHER NIGHT Movie Review

1996 Keith Gordon

With any Kurt Vonnegut Jr. work—either print or film—reality is a fluid concept. Differences between what is “real” and what is imagined are finally not too important. That's the basis for Slaughterhouse 5 and it's an important part of Keith Gordon's adaptation of Mother Night. On the surface, it's a simpler story, but one that is still open to several interpretations. Like Gordon's first picture, A Midnight Clear, it features strong acting, well-written characters, an unaffected, almost old-fashioned directorial style, and honest emotions.

Our narrator (Nick Nolte) introduces himself by stating: “I, Howard W. Campbell Jr., am an American by birth, a Nazi by reputation, and a nationless person by inclination. I am awaiting a fair trial for my war crimes by the state of Israel.” As he speaks, he sits at a typewriter in a Haifa prison and writes his memoirs. His youth in New York is sketched in quickly. In 1919, General Electric transfers his father to Germany. By 1938, Howard has become a successful playwright and has married the beautiful actress Helga Noth (Sheryl Lee). When his parents decide to return to the United States, he stays. Soon after that he is approached by his “blue fairy godmother,” Frank Wirtanen (John Goodman). Wirtanen is an American intelligence agent who asks Campbell to spy for his country, to ingratiate himself to the Nazi high command and report back. “To do this right,” he says, “you'll have to commit nothing less than high treason.”

Campbell agrees, and in 1941 becomes the creator and voice of Nazi anti-Semitic radio broadcasts, a sort of combination Lord Haw-Haw and Ezra Pound. He writes his scripts and turns them in to the ministry of propaganda. Another spy, someone he does not know, then pencils in secret editorial instructions—coughs and mispronunciations that give the weekly speeches a hidden meaning that even Campbell himself does not understand. So, is Wirtanen a real person or is he a fantasy that Campbell has created to justify his sins?

The resolution of the war and Campbell's long strange post-war odyssey to America offer few concrete answers. For the most part, Gordon handles the unconventional plot with a deadpan tone and truly bizarre black humor. Throughout, he remains completely faithful to the tone and spirit of Vonnegut's work. (The author appears in a silent cameo late in the film.) Campbell is a diffident hero, much like Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse 5. (Mother Night was written two years before Slaughterhouse 5, and Campbell actually makes a brief appearance there, too.) Nolte's performance is one of the most careful and mannered of his career. His supporting cast could hardly be better. As a painter who befriends Campbell, Alan Arkin gives the film a lift when it's needed, and Henry Gibson (of all people!) provides the voice for an unrepentant Adolf Eichmann.

As director, Gordon seems to have allowed the material to dictate his low-key style. He uses few tricks beyond fades from black-and-white to color, and he tends to mute sounds in louder scenes. His careful visual restraint sustains an undercurrent of sorrow, which is entirely appropriate to the subject. That is an emotion that is almost never expressed in contemporary films. Gordon handles it with grace and maturity.

Cast: Nick Nolte (Howard Campbell), Sheryl Lee (Helga Noth), Alan Arkin (George Kraft), John Goodman (Frank Wirtanen), Kirsten Dunst (Resi Noth), David Strathairn (Bernard O'Hare), Arye Gross (Abraham Epstein), Frankie Faison (Black Fuhrer of Harlem), Bernard Behrens (Dr. Lionel Jones); Cameo(s): Kurt Vonnegut Jr.; Voice(s) by: Henry Gibson; Written by: Robert B. Weide; Cinematography by: Tom Richmond; Music by: Michael Convertino. Producer: Keith Gordon, Robert B. Weide, Ruth Vitale, Mark Ordesky, Linda Reisman, Whyaduck; released by Fine Line Features. MPAA Rating: R. Running Time: 113 minutes. Format: VHS.