gain the upper hand

The Independentらしい記事です。ドイツが自ら、こういったことを映画化するのは、それなりの背景もあります。本記事からもそれが学ぶことができます。

For a film that has touched a raw nerve in Germany with its portrayal of neo-Nazi violence, the opening of Kriegerin, or Combat Girl, is deceptively benign: the camera pans to a 10-year-old girl on a lonely Baltic beach weighed down by a heavy load on her back.

"Can I stop now grandpa?" the girl asks the kindly looking pensioner who greets her with open arms. "Of course you can, my darling," he replies with a smile as he removes her rucksack. It proves to be full of wet sand. "You've done well, my little Kreigerin," he tells her. It turns out that Marisa, the young east German girl, has just undergone some Hitler Youth-style military training enforced by the beloved grandfather she idolises. He is an unreconstructed Nazi who is convinced that the Jews have gained the upper hand with "their lies" since Germany's defeat in World War II.

今回は一つの表現について考えてみます。最初の強調箇所をご覧下さい。このgain the upper hand withという表現についてです。どの辞書にも載っている表現ですが、LDOCEが一番わかりやすい。upperの第３義を見てみるとgain the upper hand “to have more power than someone else, so that you are able to control a situation”と定義付けられています。この定義を踏まえると、「かれは、ナチスという古い概念に未だにしがみついている男で、ドイツが第二次世界大戦で敗北を抱きしめてから、ユダヤ人が〈虚実〉共に勢力を伸ばしている、と確信している」と訳せます。ちなみに、gain the upper handのgainは、haveに置き換えが可能なようです。
(Othello)