The Disappearance of Josef Mengele delves into the unsavoury history of the Nazi doctor who managed to escape after the Second World War and lived freely in Latin America. Director Kirill Serebrennikov follows Mengele – sharply played by August Diehl – on his flight through Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil, filmed in strikingly stylish black and white reminiscent of a tense 1950s thriller.

The film shows without detours the casual cruelty of the networks that protected Mengele, his own self-pity and his unbroken ideology. Horrific memories and painfully everyday scenes merge seamlessly into a sickening portrait of the banality of evil.

Serebrennikov refuses any form of catharsis: The Disappearance of Josef Mengele offers no comfort, no psychological enlightenment, no redemption – only a cool, penetrating confrontation with impunity. A film that continues to rub, and precisely because of that, must be seen.