TORONTO - It's easy to look back at Nazi Germany and wonder how people put their trust in a madman like Hitler?
"How can you help it? We know how the story ends," says Jodie Whittaker, Viggo Mortensen's "Aryan bride" in Vicente Amorim's disturbing new movie "Good."
Based on the acclaimed play by C.P. Taylor, "Good" uses the moral decline of enlightened professor John Halder (Mortensen) to express the fate of an entire nation.
The end result is nothing short of chilling.
In the film, Halder is a "good" guy who muddles through his job, lacklustre marriage -- all while dealing with the stress of caring for his kids and his mother. Yet Halder is so busy running around looking after things that he fails to notice the ominous political winds swirling all around him.
"It's nothing. It'll all blow over," he tells his Jewish pal and shrink (Jason Isaacs).
Halder turns a blind eye to everything except the hot young student (Whittaker) who quickly beds him and weds him. Along the way Halder and the other "good" people in Amorim's grim flick make seemingly unimportant decisions that have devastating consequences.
Whittaker: A fabulous femme fatale
"On the surface it's easy to hate my character," says Whittaker, who spoke with CTV.ca during the Toronto International Film Festival. Anne has only one thing on her mind: Professor Halder. She shows up on his doorstep one rainy night and seduces him -- while his wife waits in their upstairs bedroom.
The cool blonde has no qualms about turning in Halder's shrink just as the Nazis were shipping Jews off to concentration camps.
"I did it for us," she cries when Halder finally clues in and tries to help his friend.
"What would you do if you were in her shoes? She's pregnant. She's worried about keeping her home and their life together," says Whittaker.
What a life indeed. Thanks to a novel penned by Halder supporting compassionate euthanasia he captures the attention of Hitler himself. Summoned to Nazi headquarters Halder is asked to investigate the politically expedient subject further for Germany's F锟絩her. It's an offer and a payoff Halder can't refuse.
"All of us can look back at our own lives and ask 'How could I have done that?' or 'Shouldn't I have known better?' I voted for the Labour Party in the last election and they sanctioned going to war in Iraq. I share some responsibility in that," says the British actress.
"We all make decisions that seem like they have no consequence but they really do."
No going back after Viggo
The willowy Whittaker shot to fame with her debut in "Venus," a quirky tale that pitted the newcomer opposite legendary actor Peter O'Toole. The role earned Whittaker a BIFA Award as "Best Newcomer."
"After working with Peter, Viggo and Jason I am spoiled for other actors," Whittaker laughs. "These guys are all about the job, not how many times you're picture ends up in People magazine."
Mortensen was so humble that he refused the gargantuan trailer the studio provided him during the filming of "Good."
"Viggo was so embarrassed by it," says Whittaker. "He couldn't see how anyone could okay such an expenditure when the money should really be going towards the project."
As Whittaker says, "Viggo's an A-list star. He didn't do this job for the money. None of us did. He thought it was an important story to tell. We all did especially given the times we live in."
That's an understatement. Called one of the "100 Best Plays of the Century" by the National Review neither Taylor's play nor Amorim's adaptation may sway modern voters one way or the other.
"Good" may not change peoples' views on why or when countries should go to war, but the consequences of human complacency mirrored in "Good" promises to shake moviegoers up.
Whittaker was most troubled by the scene in which she and Mortensen sit in a park watching people rush to a Nazi rally. "It's a gorgeous day and everyone around us is happy. How could anything that makes all these Germans feel this great be so terrible? But it is and there's no way for anyone to know," says Whittaker.
When Halder finally arrives at a concentration camp looking for his pal he can't believe what he sees. Underscoring that shock is the glaring realization that his inaction helped lead his friend and country to this awful end.
"He walks into a hell that has nothing to do with the crisp white files and the nice, neat order the Nazis sell him," says Whittaker. "But that's the thing. How could he or any ordinary German for that matter have known?"
As Whittaker says, "We look back through the eyes of history and say Germans were bad. Who are we to judge? We all might have done the very same thing if we found ourselves in similar circumstances."
