Taika Waititi Being A Weirdly Funny Kiwi Hitler In Jojo Rabbit Will Confuse The Hell Out Of You

Here’s a question that you’ve probably been wondering but haven’t said out loud: what would Adolf Hitler be like if he were played by Taika Waititi?

Well we have our answer in the form of the first trailer of Jojo Rabbit and it’s, well, enjoyably yet confusing to put it simply.

The satirical film is set in WWII and tells the story of a lonely German boy, Jojo Rabbit (Roman Griffin Davis), who is struggling to deal with bullies, puberty and the revelation that his mother (Scarlett Johansson) is hiding a Jewish girl (Thomasin McKenzie) in their attic. That is a lot to take in for a young lad so he conjures up an imaginary version of Hitler (played by Taika) to aid him on his journey.

Based on the trailer, Jojo Rabbit looks to be quite the entertaining yet confusing ride. It looks and feels like a whimsical coming of age story taken straight out of the Wes Anderson filmmaking handbook that happens to involve Hitler.

But it’s Taika’s take on the dictator that’ll make your mind do backflips, On one hand he’s made the character into a goofy, comedic presence who has a Kiwi accent and bears no resemblance to the actual man himself. On the other hand this is, well, Hitler we’re talking about and so it’s tough to associate nice things about the guy.

Then again, this is what satire and comedy is for and Taika is more than qualified on that front.

You can only imagine the hoops Taika had to jump through just to get the suits to listen to this bizarre pitch, let alone actually giving him money to make it.

If Taika can pull this off when Jojo Rabbit drops on October 18 – and it definitely looks like he did – then give him the keys to all the Akiras, Thors and whatever he the hell he wants to do from now on.