I enjoy watching subtle movies that make me smile (or cringe) just a little bit but when they sign-off I’m feeling satisfied but still thinking about them. Then what is it that made my watching of Iron Sky one of the cinematic highlights of 2015?
Forget the reboot of Star Wars and get a copy of Iron Sky.
The story behind the movie is a common space opera with real heroes, corrupt politicians, greedy corporations, race relations, and a secret colony on the dark side of the moon that is preparing to conquer the Earth … for the Fourth Reich! Yes, although never explained, a group of Nazis escaped in 1945 and built a new civilization on the dark side of the moon. Here they have constructed a swastika-shaped fortress and have been building the engines of war needed to return to earth and destroy all opposition.
There is even the ultimate war machine—the Götterdämmerung—which is powered up when a captured astronaut’s smartphone is linked into the noticeably “steam-punk” Nazi computer system.
Back on earth, the President of the United States (who looks amazingly like Sarah Palin and is usually seen wearing shorts and working out of the treadmill) is in danger of not being re-elected. Thus the well publicized moon-shoot to claim the moon for America and find a new fuel source for the U. S. to steal and later when a Nazi contingent comes to meet the President, a full-scale adoption of the fascist tactics and propaganda needed to grab power despite any election, and finally when the Nazis do attack, the President unveils the secret orbital weapons that were strictly forbidden by many treaties.
Of course all the other members of the U. N. council also call-out their own forbidden weapons and the fight is on.
It’s not Dostoevsky and maybe not as slick as Industrial Light & Magic, but it is fun, exciting, campy, satirical, and the scenes of the earth under siege from oversized Zeppelins is not to be missed.
And to think that this Nazi space opera came out before Donald Trump started doing his thing. But be patient: I understand there is a sequel in the works.
A Celebration of Reading 