El sustituto

This movie is internationally known as "The Replacemet". Based on true events, it is about a large group of high-placed nazi war criminals that are "hiding" in a village on the spanish coast. This including the infamous Nazi SS doctor Albert Heim, whom during WW2 performed the most cruel experiments on human prisoners in the Mauthausen Concentration Camp, and whom is known as "dr. Death" or "mini Mengele". Grim facts like lamps made of human skin or human heads that are used as paper weight, are also attributed to Heim. This person is truely a showcase for how evil a person can be. The extremely painful procedure of murdering prisoners by injecting petrol (fuel) in the heart can also be attributed to him.

Taking place in the period around the 1982 Fifa World Cup that was held in Spain, it is the story of how a newly assigned police detective / investigator discovered this large group of nazi war criminals. It shows that in post-Franco's Spain - the fascist dictatorship headed by Franco that started in WW2 and ended with his death in 1975 - there is still a lot of tollerance from far-right supporters.

This movie is an excellent example of how many nazi war criminals were able to get away after WW2 through the so-called "Ratlines". Famous destinations are the countries in South America - particularly Argentina. This movie shows that Spain, which amazingly remained under Franco's fascist dictatorship after WW2, was also a location favored by Nazi war criminals. The latter at least until the media, and jewish organizations like the Simon Wiesenthal Institute, put more and more pressure on the authorities to search for these war criminals whom were hiding under a false identity amongst the population.

One can clearly see that the makers of this movie put much attention and detail in making it period authentic. By making the events unfold during the 1982 Fifa World Cup - which was organized by Spain - made it all the more authentic and in my opinion one of the best examples of how one can make the viewer believe he (or she) is watching events that unfolded during that period. As far as I can judge, all vehicles, clothing and other props fitted well with the 1982 period. I found the acting not stellar, but decent enough. I think the acting lacks a bit in the display of emotions, especially when it comes to people being hurt or dying. It is as if these events didn't matter to the personalities in the movie...

What I liked very very much is the totally unexpected ending of the movie. I am not going to spoil the experience, but I can already tell that you probably will be amazed at how the movie unfolds at the end.

Overall, I find this movie a great example of how Nazi war criminals were successfully able to get away after the end of WW2. I personally never expected that formerly high-ranking Nazi war criminals - whom were e.g. Sentenced in absence during the Nuremburg Trials - were still living a free life in Spain during the early 80's. As such, it clearly deserves a spot in my list of best movies of WW2.

Concluding, I score this movie 7.1/10, which results in an IMDb rating of 7 stars.