Argentina, 1960. A nice middle-class Argentine family are making the long drive to Patagonia, where the wife has inherited the hotel she grew up in. On the way, they fall in with a German doctor, who befriends their 12-year-old daughter, Lilith, who was born prematurely and is not growing well. There is a substantial German community in the gorgeous lake-and-mountain retreat and the wife, Eva, attended the German school there. The doctor moves into the hotel and suggests that his work on growth hormones might be of help to the little girl. The father doesn't trust him and refuses but, as Lilith starts at the German school herself and is subjected to appalling bullying about her size, Eva gives her consent. The doctor is even more interested by the fact that Eva is now expecting twins.The problem is that the friendly doctor is Josef Mengele, on the run in South America for 15 years by this time. Notorious for his medical experiments at Auschwitz, Mengele's special interest was in twins. The German community in Patagonia is stuffed with Nazi sympathisers, although there is also, unbeknownst to them all, a Mossad agent.The film is cool, dispassionate, as is perhaps necessary for such an emotive subject. Mossad never did catch up with Mengele and he continued to carry out his experiments until his death in Brazil in 1979. He is brilliantly played as a plausible man by Spanish actor Alex Brendemuhl and Florencia Bado is compelling as Lilith.
Susan Kelly ● 4403d