Iron Sky (4 Stars)

This is a Finnish film, made in English and German. At the end of World War Two a group of Nazis escaped and flew to the Moon, where they built a secret colony on the dark side. In 2018 they decide to return to conquer the Earth.

"Iron Sky" is a fascinating film which is difficult to pin down to any one genre. The summary of the plot makes it sound like a B-Film which could have come from the pen of Roger Corman. And yet it isn't. There is raking political satire, mostly anti-American, and a multitude of subplots that make it far too complex to be a B-Film. The anti-American message is probably why the film has never been released in the USA. American audiences allow American directors to criticise the American way of life, but they don't tolerate criticism from foreigners

Although made with a relatively small budget, only $6 million, the special effects make the budget look much bigger. This is a film worth watching, though a lot of the humour might be lost on European audiences. The American president in the film is left unnamed, but she looks very much like Sarah Palin.

Despite the strange decision made by the UK distributors to only show the film in cinemas for one day, it was a huge box office success. The viewing figures on the one day were enough to make it into the top 10 films for the week.