Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.


There are two main things to know about the movie 'Mother Night', and just about every review I've been able to find of the movie mentions them enthusiastically (though they don't always give the movie high marks overall). The first is that the movie is very near perfection in being a film of a Vonnegut work. The second is that if you had any doubts about Nick Nolte's abilities as an actor, this movie will lay them to rest.


The story revolves around Howard W. Campbell Jr. (Nick Nolte), a man born in the United States, but for the most part raised in Germany. He becomes a successful playwright, has a beautiful wife, and in general has a bright future ahead of him. Then comes World War II. He finds himself torn, as he has always considered himself, at least to some extent, American. He is uncertain as to what action he should take, when a possibility is delivered to him. He is contacted by an American agent who wants him to work for the American government by staying in Germany. Campbell becomes a Nazi propagandist, delivering addresses over the radio, and supplying America with valuable information using a complicated code of pauses, coughs, and so on.

And so, Campbell attempts to balance his loyalties against each other, while maintaining his cushy lifestyle among the Nazi elite. Through much of the first portion of the film we see what becomes of Campbell's life, his inner life, while working both sides.

His life, and what has become of it at this point, is somewhat summed up in the scene where Campbell's father-in-law tells him that even if he were a spy it is irrelevant because he has done far more for the German cause than he could possibly have done for the Allies. And we see (and realize) that the mental cogs begin whirring in an overdrive that leads to no real end. Is Campbell's father-in-law right? Does Campbell care? Does it really matter to Campbell who was getting the best of whatever work he was doing? Does he really care who wins? Has it all been merely a convenient road toward a sort of moral peace of mind?

And then, the war ends. We soon find Campbell in New York, and of course, the American government will never acknowledge that he was working for them, or that he was anything but what he appeared to be. Before you know it American Neo-Nazis are recirculating his words, and holding him up as a hero of 'the cause'.

Before long, Campbell finds himself a man without any life at all, and finds that without a proper context he doesn't know what to make of himself. In one of the more compelling scenes in recent history, Campbell, while walking the streets of New York, suddenly stops and doesn't move for an incredibly long time. The scene screams Vonnegut, and it is filmed marvelously, skirting past the great likelihood that such a scene would come off as being rather silly. Campbell stops moving as his mind runs rampant. He stops because he can see no motivation in making any move in any direction. He has and is nothing, and there isn't really anything for him wherever he may go, whatever action he may take.

We are, Vonnegut tells us early in the book, what we pretend to be. Campbell's is a life in which he pretended to be many things, and he discovers he was pretending to be everything, and was never really anything. He tries to console his moral sense by convincing himself that he is an American spy pretending to be a Nazi propagandist, but somewhere inside he knows he is only pretending at that as well.



Keith Gordon has more history in the movie world as an actor in a lot of things you've never seen, except maybe Jaws 2, than he has experience as a director, but what he has directed so far has been rather good (at least from a directorial perspective). Apart from some television work, 'The Chocolate War', 'A Midnight Clear', 'Mother Night', and 'Waking the Dead', pretty well cover all over Gordon's directorial resume. While not everything on that rather short list is exactly what I would want on my resume, 'Mother Night' certainly is. The darkness, and the tragedy of humanity as humanity that is so typically Vonnegut come through in a way one would think almost impossible to create on film. The depth to which we are able to 'see' the character that is Campbell, his inner turmoil, and his struggle by way of avoiding struggle, are the sort of aspects of a book that are generally the first to go when translating to film, yet all of these exist in the movie to a degree almost equal to the book.


Nick Nolte gives us a performance worthy of the highest praise. He displays emotion convincingly, and creates a difficult character believably. From his role as an important Nazi living the life of the rich and famous among the Nazi elite, to his role as an ex-Nazi living in America without hope of an interesting future, watching his life slip further and further out of his grasp, Nolte leaves little room for the audience to doubt his portrayal.


Though the movie is truly focused on Campbell, there are some fine supporting performances as well. Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Sheryl Lee (and even a brief appearance by Kirsten Dunst) all add to an excellent cast.


Overall, a seriously dark movie that will leave you with no message of hope, harmony, or happiness regarding the human condition, and may well leave you with no clear message at all. It is nevertheless a movie that displays humanity for what it is, or perhaps parts of humanity for what they are. This, the movie says to us, is some aspect of humanity, and you can't deny it. What, precisely, you are to make of that, the movie (and the book) leaves open.


It is hard to say that there is much entertainment going on here, but it is an excellent movie from any point of view. Direction, acting, plot, and visual expression are all of the highest caliber. Still, this is pretty clearly not a movie that everyone will enjoy. It gives a pretty serious portrayal of not only all things Nazi, but it also displays humans in general as often being something less than interesting. For those that are interested in dark probes into humanity, I highly recommend it.



Recommended: Yes

Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age