{"id":5079,"date":"2026-08-07T20:12:48","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=5079"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:12:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:12:48","slug":"i-is-another-review-claes-bang-plays-himmlers-masseur-in-weighty-meditation-on-a-wwii-footnote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=5079","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I Is Another\u2019 Review: Claes Bang Plays Himmler\u2019s Masseur in Weighty Meditation on a WWII Footnote"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n\tIn the compelling German suspense story <em>I Is Another <\/em>(<em>Ich ist ein Anderer<\/em>), protean Danish polyglot Claes Bang stars as Felix Kersten, an actual physiotherapist\/masseur who claimed he was instrumental in persuading his client Heinrich Himmler to let Jewish prisoners go at the end of World War II but whose account remains disputed to this day<em>.<\/em> Writer-director Felix Randau finds an economical way to distill the mystery around the attractive but clearly egomaniacal Kersten by putting him in conversation on a train with Valerie Pachner\u2019s fictional East German journalist, a woman with her own shady past.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=5078\">Kristen Stewart Applauds Reopening of Cinerama Dome: \u201cHope They Don\u2019t F*** It Up!\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe combustible onscreen chemistry of Bang (<em>The Northman<\/em>, Cannes Palme d\u2019Or winner <em>The Square<\/em>, Apple TV\u2019s <em>Bad Sisters<\/em>) and Pachner (Mata Hari in <em>The King\u2019s Man<\/em>) represents a major selling point for this sly study of deception and delusion, one that feels eerily relevant in these \u201cpost-truth\u201d times. Premiering in Locarno\u2019s Piazza Grande, <em>I Is Another<\/em> could stretch its legs commercially with niche distributors beyond Germany.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<h3>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tI Is Another\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<div>\n<span>The Bottom Line<\/span><br \/>\n<span><\/p>\n<p>\tTruth is elusive.<br \/>\n\t<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<strong>Venue<\/strong>: Locarno Film Festival (Piazza Grande)<br \/><strong>Cast<\/strong>: Claes Bang, Valerie Pachner, Susanne Wuest, Timocin Ziegler, Martin Mueller, Michael Fuith, Till Firit, Christoph Mueller<br \/><strong>Director-screenwriter<\/strong>: Felix Randau<br \/>\n<span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1 hour 33 minutes\t\t\t<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n\tAlthough the action flashes back periodically to the war years, most of the plot unfolds in a series of cramped cabins on a train bound for Oslo in 1952 on which Kersten is traveling, accompanied by his chirpy, bird-like wife Irmgard (a vivid Susanne Wuest, who co-starred in Randau\u2019s earlier feature <em>Iceman<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThey are on their way to Norway to attend the press conference announcing candidates for that year\u2019s Nobel Peace Prize, full of expectations that Felix is being considered for securing the release of concentration camp inmates in the Spring of 1945. This freeing of Scandinavian prisoners, also known as the White Buses incident, was (and is) generally credited to the intervention of Swedish Red Cross president Folke Bernadotte, who negotiated directly with Himmler.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tIn 1952, Kersten published a letter allegedly written by Bernadotte that painted the latter in a very unflattering light while making Kersten look like the real hero, a plot point incorporated into the script here in a way that\u2019s not strictly historically accurate.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tBut that all happens later in the film. At the opening, unbeknownst to the Kerstens, another couple has booked the cabin next to them: Hedda (Pachner) and Winfried Wohmann (Timocin Ziegler), a reporter and photographer, respectively, from the German Democratic Republic. Hedda, clad in a blouse whose stripes reflect the zigs and zags of the plot\u2019s twists and has a Rosalind Russell in <em>His Girl Friday<\/em> vibe, launches a charm offensive to persuade Kersten to give her an interview.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe flattery and fluttering eyelashes work, and they settle down in his cabin with a vintage reel-to-reel tape recorder to go over his story, shown in flashbacks. Kersten describes how he came to treat SS Reich Leader Himmler (played with aptly martinetish froideur by Christoph Mueller) for chronic stomach pain. Over time, he gained the Nazi\u2019s confidence, although Kersten insists he was never an employee of the SS as such or even a member of the Nazi Party. <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=5076\">Madeleine Carlisle, Stephen Colbert\u2019s Daughter, Hired by The Atlantic After \u201860 Minutes\u2019 Exit<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tHedda and Felix\u2019s interview is interrupted when he is summoned to take a phone call, giving her a chance to rummage around in his luggage for evidence of her suspicions, revealed earlier in a conversation with Winfried, that Kersten is not telling the whole truth. When Kersten catches her red-handed looking for his diary, he insists she take it away, read it and judge his honesty for herself.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tHis persuasive written testimony may seed in Hedda some small doubts about her previous doubts, but as she explains to Winfried, the diary could easily have been written years after the events it describes. As the interview resumes, she reveals knowledge of details that contradict his account, enraging the bearish Baltic German who reveals a violent streak under all that urbanity and command of five languages. <\/p>\n<p>\n\tBang is perfectly cast for the role, on account both of his own linguistic skills and his looming stature, creating a strong contrast with Pachner\u2019s slight, elfin figure. When he bangs his fist on the rickety table and raises his voice, it looks like the next minute he might hit her or drag her to bed \u2014 either outcome seems possible.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tPlus, it turns out that Hedda, her name echoing that of Henrik Ibsen\u2019s famously complex character, is no exemplar of honesty herself. A scandal in her recent career resulted in her and Winfried being internally exiled from Berlin to provincial Halle, and she\u2019s clearly hoping a big scoop will put her back in favor. Winfried has become an alcoholic, tortured by the memory of atrocities he committed as a soldier during the war. Hedda has her own personal history she\u2019d like forgotten. <\/p>\n<p>\n\tUnfortunately, Kersten, with his connections to Swedish intelligence, finds out more than she\u2019d like about her background, so their conversation turns into a game of tit for tat, threats and counterthreats.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tRandau orchestrates these shifts in power well, building up suspense with strong assists from editor Joana Scrinzi and an understated score by Bernhard Fleischmann. Nevertheless, the way the script is structured as a series of two-handers lends a theatrical air to the proceedings, not necessarily a bad thing in itself, though something other viewers might fidget through. But the considerable charisma of the main leads carries the feature along and makes this a work that feels more substantial and weighty than the footnote in history it might have played like in the hands of a different cast and director.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=5074\">Jimmy Kimmel on His Wild, Whirlwind, Not So Terrible or Horrible TV Year<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Claes Bang stars in &#039;I Is Another&#039; as Himmler&#039;s physiotherapist, who claims credit for the release of Jewish prisoners at the end of WWII.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3231,2,3304],"class_list":["post-5079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting","tag-claes-bang","tag-international","tag-locarno-film-festival-2026"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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