While the Austrian feature Solvent is a faux documentary with body horror elements, it’s also a deep and heavy meditation on history. More specifically, the film address Nazism and how memory, both at the national and personal levels, is processed. Considering the resurgence of far-right populism globally, including in Austria, this film couldn’t be any timelier.

The feature follows a crew dressed in hazmat suits that investigate an old farmhouse, in search of Nazi documents. The main characters include American expat Gunner S. Holbrook (Jon Gries), who has experience recovering rare documents and artifacts. He’s joined by Krystyna (Aleksandra Cwen), Cornelia (Jasmin Hagendorfer), and property owner Ernst, played by director and co-writer Johannes Grenzfurthner. The crew nearly tears apart the farmhouse, but they fail to uncover the coveted documents. Meanwhile, Ernst’s grandfather, who was a Nazi soldier, disappeared. His body remained undiscovered. It should be noted that archival footage of the director’s actual grandfather is used as a stand-in for the grandfather mentioned in the film. It’s another means of blending personal history with boarder historical narratives.

Eventually, a neighbor informs the crew of a bunker outside of the farmhouse. Once they travel underground, they discover a strange pipe sticking out of the Earth. Krystyna touches it, and almost immediately, goes mad, to the point she pushes Cornelia, leading to her death. This grisly circumstance causes the crew to shut down the investigation. However, a few months later, Gunner, still eager to find the documents, starts filming again and returns to the bunker.

Much of this film is about obsession. Both Gunner and Krystyna lose their minds because they come too close to the truth, specifically what the Nazis did. At one point, Gunner recites a quote from his father, a Vietnam veteran. His father said that water maintains memory. That quote symbolizes so much of what this film showcases, the idea that history, including the blood of the victims, remains in the Earth. Gunner and Krystyna start recounting and recalling the genocide and it breaks their minds.

The portrayal of madness resembles H.P. Lovecraft’s fiction, especially his countless characters that turn stark-raving mad after encountering the Old Ones and other beings. In this case, the truth of history won’t stay buried, and when Gunner and Krystyna confront it, they simply can’t handle it. The truth overwhelms them. The feature’s last 20 minutes contain some truly powerful body horror elements, including a black, oil-like substance that spews from body parts. Other shots, meanwhile, look a little bit like a student art film and distract more than enhance the film.

For the first time since WWII, a far-right populist party in Austria, the Freedom Party, won a parliamentary election this fall. Solvent is a potent reminder of Austria’s history just as the world, including the U.S., lurches further and further to the right. This is a grotesque body horror film with a striking message that comes as the post-World War II global order faces its biggest stress test yet.