La chica terrible

It may sound in outline like a bad joke, but this daring comedy about a young German girl's frustrated attempt to uncover the Nazi past is no laughing matter. The film has a lot of the same, sassy energy as its heroine, who as a schoolgirl began a lifelong investigative crusade to unearth the Nazi skeletons in the closet of her Bavarian hometown, discovering firsthand the hypocrisy and complacency of her friends and neighbors (and, by extension, of the entire German nation). The story is drawn from actual events, but the heavy stylization of the film takes (deliberately) some of the sting from the facts, by lending them an almost playful air of unreality sometimes unsuited to the subject. The approach takes a little getting used to, but it makes sense: in a country afflicted with retroactive amnesia, history itself can sometimes seem equally unreal. Altogether it's a fresh look at otherwise familiar material, with a sudden, unresolved ending offering plenty of food for thought.