Max is a 2002 drama film written and directed by Menno Meyjes in his directorial debut. The film stars John Cusack, Noah Taylor, Leelee Sobieski, and Molly Parker. Its plot depicts a fictional friendship between Jewish art dealer Max Rothman and a young Austrian painter, Adolf Hitler; more of which explores Hitler's views that begin to take shape as the Nazi ideology while also studying the artistic and design implications of the Third Reich. It goes on to study the question of what could have been had Hitler been accepted as an artist.
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Plot
In 1918, Max Rothman (John Cusack), a Munich art dealer, is a World War I veteran who lost his right arm in the Third Battle of Ypres, effectively ending his career as a painter. He returns to Germany and opens a modern art gallery. He is married to Nina (Molly Parker), but also has a mistress, Liselore von Peltz (Leelee Sobieski). Through a chance encounter, Rothman is approached by a young Adolf Hitler (Noah Taylor), a war veteran as well, disgruntled over Germany's loss during the conflict and the country's humiliation by the signing of the Versailles Treaty. Hitler is also an aspiring painter, and wishes to have his artwork displayed.
