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The Disappearance of Josef Mengele emerges as a specter of history, directed by Kirill Serebrennikov from Olivier Guez’s novel, with August Diehl inhabiting the infamous physician’s haunted silhouette. We first glimpse Mengele’s bones under bright dissection lights in a present-day Brazilian classroom, then slip into black-and-white corridors of his fugitive life—Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil—each locale tinted by fear and memory. Diehl, unrecognizable beneath prosthetics, becomes a vessel for a man who once sought genetic “purity” yet now hunts anonymity under ever-shifting aliases.

The film unfolds like a fractured mirror: noir-tinged thriller, character study, moral reckoning. Stark monochrome gives way to one vivid flashback in color—an eruption of Auschwitz horror that jolts both eye and conscience. Serebrennikov’s camera, often trailing Mengele from behind, traces the cruel geometry of his obsession and the chasm between his grand vision and every-day human dread.

Expect an exploration of narrative architecture,...

Throughout the impressively crafted and increasingly exasperating 135 minutes that make up Kirill Serebrennikov’s postwar Nazi-in-hiding chronicle, The Disappearance of Josef Menegele, the same question keeps coming to mind: Why am I watching this?

Certainly, for those curious to know how the notorious Auschwitz doctor, aka the “Angel of Death,” eked out the final decades of his life in various South American countries, changing homes and identities, farming, scheming and, yes, getting the occasional handjob, the film answers that question many times over. But for those who aren’t Third Reich completists, nor have any interest in historical fantasy that does little beyond embellishing Mengele’s ignoble reputation, this intellectually vacuous exercise can be tough to stomach — despite how well put together the whole thing is.

The Russian-born Serebrennikov is a talented auteur with plenty of style to boot, showcasing his directorial chops in six eclectic features made since 2016. He jumps easily between genres,...