A rock star's quest to confront a Nazi war criminal
In short: What happens when a jaded, wealthy rock star spends his retirement hunting a ghost from the past? Paolo Sorrentino's 2011 film follows a man who trades his stage persona for a grueling journey across America to face a literal monster of history.
The film centers on Cheyenne, a former rock star who retired in Dublin after the tragic deaths of two teenage fans. Bored and jaded, he discovers his father's diary, revealing that his father was persecuted in Auschwitz by a former SS officer named Alois Lange. This discovery sets off a cross-country odyssey to find Lange, who is living as a refugee in the United States. Director Paolo Sorrentino intentionally chose a protagonist who seemed the least likely to embark on such a quest. He wanted to juxtapose a 'slow, lazy' rock star with the gravity of a Nazi hunter. The character's aesthetic was inspired by Robert Smith of The Cure, capturing a specific sense of wonder regarding individuals who maintain an adolescent identity well into adulthood. The production was an Italian-majority project with co-producers in Ireland and France. It featured a budget of 28 million dollars. Sorrentino wrote the script specifically with Sean Penn's involvement in mind. The film was his first production shot entirely in the English language.
This visual choice serves as a contrast to the grim reality of the hunt. The journey is marked by philosophical and visceral moments. At a gun shop, a bystander delivers a chilling soliloquy on the desire to be 'monsters' when licensed to do so. The climax occurs in the salt flats, where Cheyenne forces a blind, elderly Lange to walk out naked—re-enacting the vulnerability of a Holocaust victim. The film explores themes of obsession, the lingering weight of history, and the personal cost of seeking justice for a father's long-held trauma.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: This Must Be the Place (film)
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