Germany breaks the Hitler taboo

[emad]

Telegraph snip:
By Kate Connolly in Berlin
(Filed: 24/08/2004)


A decades-long taboo was broken in Germany yesterday with the launch of a feature film in which Adolf Hitler appears for the first time in a central role, not as a ranting demagogue but as a soft-spoken dreamer.

The Downfall is a huge shift from the previous tendency in German cinema to show Hitler only as a background figure or a character who does not appear on camera at all.It tells the story of the last 12 days of Hitler's life in his 25ft-deep bunker in Berlin - including his suicide alongside his new wife Eva Braun on April 30, 1945 - while advancing Soviet troops pulverise the city with shellfire.

The production by Bernd Eichinger, a respected director, is likely to cause controversy when it opens in German cinemas next month. It depicts the Fuhrer as an avuncular character with a penchant for chocolate cake, who slides into madness when his lifelong dream of a 1,000-year reich slips from his grasp.Hitler is convincingly played by Germany's star actor Bruno Ganz, who once acted the part of an angel in the award-winning German film Wings of Desire.

In one scene Ganz depicts him with his hair in his eyes, tears streaming down his cheeks, as he declares: "The war is over." The Downfall offers a sympathetic portrayal of the Führer
Until he starts having hysterical fits, Ganz's Hitler talks in a soft, melodic Austrian accent, far different from the barking tone he adopted for his mass rallies. The director said the voice was copied from the single recording which exists of Hitler talking in normal tones.
More:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/08/24/wadolf24.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/08/24/ixworld.html

[coloradodem2005]

1. I don't think I could ever see true humanity in Hitler.

Considering what he did to the Jews. I would probably be laughing at his misfortune.

[JPZenger]

2. He let Berlin be pulverized

Yea, a real sympathetic character.

Putting aside the tens of millions of people he directly or indirectly murdered, let's look at that time in the bunker. He knew Germany was going to lose. But instead of negotiating a surrender, he let the Soviets pulverize Berlin into ruins - killing hundreds of thousands of Germans. Then he sent thousands of Hitler Youth kids into battle, where they were slaughtered in a final battle.

[reorg]

3. a few minor corrections

Bernd Eichinger is not a "respected director", he is actually not a director at all, but he is the most successful German producer of Hollywood style block buster movies (Das Boot, Neverending story, Name of the Rose, Werner, etc etc) - at least to the extent that such a film industry in Germany exists.

While it may be true that there was never a major feature film which focused on the historical Hitler, there is no lack of documentaries dealing with each and every aspect of his life one could think of, not only movies but also a lot of books. On one of those the current film is based on (Joachim Fest). So there is really not much cause for for controversy here.

In addition, there already was a quite successful art film that "broke the taboo" almost THIRTY years ago, Syberberg's "Hitler, a Film From Germany" (it can be watched online). Bernd Eichinger happens to have been the producer of this film, too, BTW.

I think I will go and see this film. Not only because Eichinger's films are mostly okay, it features Corinna Harfouch. !!! .



I love her, she is great. And Bruno Ganz is probably Germany's best actor.

[bpilgrim]

4. wow - thanks for the link!

i'm just halfway through part 1 and i am loving it... what a remarkable presentation and gripping storyline.

so far it is highliting all the important lessons for ALL of us but inpaticular us AMERICANS since we have the POWER to be one of the 1 in 11 who SPEAKS OUT to STOP our CURRENT insanity.

all i could think of when the ringmaster-clown had that humongo megaphone to his moth was Michael Moore in that ice-cream truck - lol

thank you for sharing that :toast:

peace

[reorg]

5. link to German tv news report from 29 August, trailer

German national TV station ZDF:

http://www.heute.t-online.de/ZDFmt/mediathek/0,3496,MT-2184200,00.html

Orange dots below picture to choose Modem/ISDN or Breitband (Broadband) on the left, Real Media on the right. Media Player does not seem to work. "Vollbild" means full screen. Good image with broadband.

Naturally, the short report from Sunday, August 29 is in German, but with some impressive snippets from the film, the guys talking are the producer, Eichinger, and the author of the historical study the film is based on.

They put up a website for the film, with a short trailer:

http://www.untergang.film.de

Quote on the opening screen:

"If the war is lost, it makes no difference if the people go down. I will not lose a single tear drop over this, since they will not have deserved better."

"Wenn der Krieg verloren geht, ist es vollkommen egal, ob das Volk mit untergeht. Ich könnte darüber noch keine Träne weinen, denn es hätte nichts anderes verdient." Hitler, 1945