A young Adolf Hitler develops and unlikely but formative friendship with a wealthy Jewish art dealer in post World War I Germany in Max, a provocative and fascinating new film that uses fiction to suggest that before he became Hitler, young Adolf was a frustrated painter teetering on the edge of a career in art vs. politics.

The setting is Munich, 1918, when we first meet affluent Max Rothman (John Cusack), a wealthy Jewish modern art dealer whose comfortable lifestyle includes a supportive wife (Molly Parker) and a bohemian mistress (Leelee Sobieski). He's lost an arm in World War I, and though once had strong artistic aspirations himself, has resentfully relegated himself to the commerce of art.

Enter young Adolf Hitler (Noah Taylor), a poor young man at age 29, who has also returned from the war damaged in his own right. Armed with little more than some strongly developing theories about pure blood and some basic ideas about modern art, his plan is to become a famous modern artist, headlining an exhibition by Rothman.

The two strike up an unlikely friendship, and the bulk of the film is concentrates on their growing bond, and Rothman's increasing concern with Hitler's gradual obsession with racial purity and fire and brimstone political rallies.

Before the film concludes, of course, we know that Adolf the artist will give way to Hitler the tyrant, but watching those forces push and pull on each other, and ultimately coalesce into "politics…the new art," is thrilling in the sense that we can see, quite believably, how this angry, hateful young man found himself at a crossroads and chose to make politics his canvas.

Of course, Max is speculation at best, but it's pretty damn interesting to conjecture that this is one possibility for how someone we prefer to categorize as ultimate evil was, at one time, simply an angry youth with some dangerous ideas and an artist's heart.

What's most interesting about Max is the didactic way director Menno Meyjes keeps introducing new and quite plausible theories on how young Adolf Hitler came to be shaped. It's not a stretch to say that the Adolf we meet here - young, political, disenfranchised, angry - is, at first glance, not far from many of today's cynical youth.

Max is a fresh, original film with a crusading intelligence that makes it much more than just an historical fiction stunt. There's vision and passion in this film, most notably in the script and performances.

I never bought Cusack in the role of a German Jew, and in his family scenes, he still feels as American as can be, like an adopted child in a German family. But there's a warmth and heart to his performance here, and a radical performance art scene involving a giant meat grinder ranks among his best work.

Taylor, the charmer from Flirting, gives a performance of energy and magnitude that is just alive with vocal and physical life. There are moments when we listen to the rising tide of his angry racial rants, and we're chilled. And there are moments when he appears to be just a confused, directionless kid. It's a great performance.

On a technical level, Max shimmers with ornate and meticulous art direction and cinematography, which effectively captures the darkness of the period and a beautiful, rich sense of the upper crust life the Rothman's lead, if only for the time being.