Subtitled Der Film zum Buch vom Führer (“The film accompanying the Führer’s book”), the movie is a grotesque farce about the events when, in 1983, German Stern magazine began to publish, with great fanfare, the 60 volumes of the alleged diaries of Adolf Hitler – which two weeks later turned out to be entirely fake. That story is commonly described one of the greatest failures of modern journalism overall.

The film is widely considered a hilarious tale, making fun not only of the events and characters who were involved in the hoax, and who are only thinly disguised in the movie, but also of the discomfort Germany has with its difficult past. It is especially fun to viewers familiar with the country.

The film is co-written and directed by Helmut Dietl and, among his many respected comedies, frequently considered his best. Dietl researched the scandal for two years and has been quoted as having to leave out several real events from the movie because they were too outrageous.

The title is a bow to Charlie Chaplin’s classic The Great Dictator, in which the Fooey repeatedly uses “Schtonk!” as an expression of disgust – the word has no meaning in German but resembles to Stunk, a colloquial expression for a scuffle or altercation. —Wikipedia