The German Dr.

Question 1

German Dr. Director

Answer 1

Lucía Puenzo

Question 2

What does Puenzo’s film process look like?

Answer 2

Has adapted her own novels to the screen

Question 3

German Dr. & acclaim

Answer 3

Won Argentina Academy Awards & other acclaim

Question 4

General of Conquest of the Desert

Answer 4

Roca

Question 5

Conquest of the desert years

Answer 5

1870s-80s

Question 6

Conquest of the Desert

Answer 6

General Julio Roca): decimated the indigenous population, clearing land for business (raising cattle, sowing grain)

Question 7

Who invested in the conquest of the desert

Answer 7

Europe

Question 8

Argentina & WWII (import/export)

Answer 8

Argentina was neutral during WWII, continued export to UK

They were able to imported Nazis in exile after war

Question 9

Conquest of Desert not a war of conquest, but ______

Answer 9

an ethnic cleansing

Question 10

Who was first to immigrate to Patagonia in 1880s

Answer 10

Germans

Question 11

Conducted medical experiments on prisoners

Answer 11

Josef Mengele

Question 12

_____ encouraged immigration of scientists, engineers, technicians, military experts trained & employed by Nazi Germany

Answer 12

Peron

Question 13

Mengele went to _____ Argentina

Answer 13

Buenos Aires

Question 14

Protagonist german dr

Answer 14

Lilith

Question 15

Quote about Lilith by Mengele

Answer 15

“He said that my body was a battlefield”

Question 16

Herlitzka

Answer 16

the Aryan doll that Mengele intends to create in series: a perfect doll.

Question 17

The German Dr utilizes the Nazi thriller genre to

Answer 17

explore Argentine genocides for an international audience.

Question 18

___________ symbolizes the extermination of indigenous people during the Conquest of the Desert.

Answer 18

The lifeless (heartless) doll with mestizo features lying on the desert ground

Question 19

Mass production of Aryan dolls dovetails with

Answer 19

experimentation on Lilith.

Question 20

Female bodies are battlefields. Perfection and beauty are ideals to which women’s bodies are molded.

Answer 20

German Doctor thesis

Question 21

Population of Argentina

Answer 21

Indigenous Latin Americans & Europeans (because there was a large wave of European immigration to Argentina), this population was German-heavy.

Question 22

Argentina approached German relations with a strong sense of mutual sympathy (there were already lots of German immigrants living within its borders) and Peron did not want to get on Germany’s bad side during such a crucial point in both of their histories. It was also important for some of Argentinian leadership to stay “aligned with the Western and Christian world”

Answer 22

Why Argentina encouraged Euro immigration

Question 23

4. What relationship did Argentina have with Germany?

Answer 23

They had strong international relations that last to today and affect education, military issues, and even science. Many ex-Nazis fled to Argentina to escape prosecution in the mid 20th century.

Question 24

Argentina during WWII

Answer 24

Argentina was neutral to begin with; this allowed them to strengthen their relations with Axis powers like Germany (eventually they would sever these ties during wartime)

Question 25

8. How does Argentina’s relationship with Germany appear in the film?

Answer 25

Lilith’s mother is German and puts her in a German language school in Argentina. German is often heard spoken by the various residents of Argentina who have a relationship with that family and we even hear German music.

Question 26

9. How does Lucía Puenzo explore issues of gender and race in the film?

Answer 26

Lucia Puenzo explores issues of gender in the film with the power dynamics between Nora and Joseph (Nora is the one who almost gets him caught), and she explores race in the film through the Eugenics and white supremacist lesson that Joseph gives Lilith.

Question 27

10. What do dolls symbolize in the film?

Answer 27

Dolls symbolize an idea of purity and perfection especially relating to Mengele’s Eurocentric ideals of white supremacy, they also symbolize how he tried to achieve perfection with Lilith’s body.

Question 28

11. How does Puenzo’s camera portray Mengele’s treatment of Lilith? (consider shot sizes)

Answer 28

Lilith is portrayed as an objectified character from Mengele’s point of view. There are many high angle shots of her, close ups, and from his perspective we can see that she is just a plaything or something to be experimented on (she’s not shot like a human when shes around him).