MOVIE REVIEW: The Pro-Nazi Film ‘Aftermath’ Fails because of its Immoral Relativism

The film Aftermath is set in Hamburg, Germany. The fictitious events presumably take place five months after the fall of Nazi Germany.

Zero Media posted this Fox Search Light/BBC Films trailer for Aftermath:

The film fails because of its pro-Nazi, pro-immoral relativism theme.

The film primarily takes place in and portrays the destruction of Hamburg, Germany. The film begins with British Colonel Lewis Morgan picking up his wife Rachael at the Hamburg train station. Colonel Morgan is the regional commander of British forces in Hamburg. Colonel Lewis and Rachael, en-route to their new quarters, pass through the bombed out streets of Hamburg. Colonel Lewis tells his wife that more bombs were dropped on Hamburg by the British in a single weekend than all the bombs dropped on Great Britain by the Nazi Luftwaffe.

This is a lie.

BBC News reported, “Some 30,000 tonnes of bombs were dropped overall and more than 40,000 people killed…The largest bombs dropped on Britain were almost 4,000lb (1,800kg) devices nicknamed Satans.” Wikipedia reports, “In total, the RAF dropped 22,580 long tons of bombs on Hamburg…The Allied bombing of Hamburg during World War II included numerous attacks on civilians and civic infrastructure. As a large city and industrial centre, Hamburg‘s shipyards, U-boat pens, and the Hamburg-Harburg area oil refineries were attacked throughout the war.”

Colonel Lewis and his wife move into a home owned by a German architect named Siegfried Leitmann. Leitmann has a teenage daughter. We learn during the film that Leitmann’s wife was killed in one of the Allied bombing raids. We also learn later in the film that her family owned the shipyards in Hamburg, where the U-boat pens were most likely located. This would mean that Leitmann and his wife would have been close to the Nazis, if for no other reason than her family’s ownership of key strategic assets critical to the Nazi war effort in Northern Germany. During the film we also learn that Colonel Morgan and his wife Rachael lost their son during a Nazi bombing raid in England.

The film depicts the aftermath, which is the “resistance” by those still loyal to Adolph Hitler. Sound familiar? The writers of Aftermath, Joe Shrapnel, Anna Waterhouse, appear to push the theme that it is morally necessary for the Nazis to resist because of the destruction caused by the Allied bombing of Hamburg and the aftermath of British forces occupying Hamburg. If you just change the plot to be about a Palestinian family and the Israeli occupiers of Judea and Sumeria after the Six Day War you could have the next Fox Search Light/BBC Films movie titled “Aftermath II?”

Those in the resistance have the number “88” burned into their skin. According to the Anti-Defamation League,

88 is a white supremacist numerical code for “Heil Hitler.” H is the eighth letter of the alphabet, so 88 = HH = Heil Hitler.

Leitmann’s daughter befriends one of the “88” Hitler youth members because she is angry that her mother was killed in an Allied bombing raid followed by the British confiscating her father’s home. The daughter provides information (spies) on Colonel Lewis, which leads to an assassination attempt. Her father, while Colonel Lewis is away, seduces Colonel Morgan’s wife. In the end Rachael fully submits to this sinful affair, making plans leave her loyal husband and run away with Leitmann.

The symbolism is stark in that the Leitmann is asked if he knew about the Nazi Neuengamme death camp located in Bergedorf district of Hamburg. The Neuengamme camp eventually became the largest concentration camp in Northwest Germany. Under questioning Leitmann states that he did not know about the German death camp. But how could he not know, given the status of his wife’s family to the Nazis and his estate located on the outskirts of Hamburg?

It is interesting that the main character is named Rachael. Rachael is an important figure in the book of Genesis. Rachel is the younger daughter of Laban and wife of Jacob, Rachel is the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, who become two of the twelve tribes of Israel (Gen 35:24; 46:15–18). We do not know if Colonel Lewis’s wife Rachael is Jewish.

When watching “Aftermath” it is important to understand that the producers and director are pushing pro-immoral relativism messages. The first is that cheating on your husband, while sleeping with the enemy, is acceptable. The second message is that Great Britain bombed Nazi Germany and Nazi Germany bombed Great Britain so both are equally at fault. Denigrating the Allied efforts to stop Nazi Germany is akin to recent efforts, by a past U.S. administration and our European allies, to allow Iran to continue to develop nuclear weapons in order to bring death to America and Israel.

The message that should have been emphasized in Aftermath is “Never Again!”

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