Swastika

This feature length documentary will knock your socks off ... if you're ever lucky enough to see it. If you have ever wondered how Hitler and his thugs wooed the Germans? Philippe Mora has assembled an incredible body of film footage here and let the material tell the story ... there is no narration, something Philippe does particularly well (see his next doco, BROTHER CAN YOU SPARE A DIME). He was even able to find Eva Braun's home movies of Hitler, mostly taken at Obersalzburg, and with the help of German lipreaders, bring them to life. Students of history will find it particularly enlightening. It is also horrifying. Most people didn't think Hitler was at all bad. Famous reporter Dick Brinkly singing the praises of Hitler in the mid 30s must be embarrassing. See it if you can. Pray it comes out on DVD one day.

Philippe Mora was the person who as a 19 year old film student discovered the now well known personal films of Eva Braun (that would make a fine film in itself). This fascinating color film footage is incorporated into this un narrated documentary along with a wide assortment of original Nazi newsreels and propaganda films to present life in Nazi Germany from 1933-45 as seen through the propaganda filmmakers (and Eva's) camera lens. A wonderful classical music score accompanies. This film is quite rare and is generally unavailable. I believe it was nominated for an award (or won an award). Nevertheless,if you get a chance to see it, buy it, etc, do it. It is the best documentary film on Nazi Germany of it's kind with much never before seen original footage.

Home movies of Hitler with Goering & Goebbels & Eva & the gang (much of it at der Berghof, much shot by Eva), a bit of Bormann, Himmler, & Speer as well, interspersed with plenty of domestic documentary footage, predominantly from 1933 to 1939.

Eva exhibitionistically posing in a swimsuit whilst hanging from a lakeshore tree branch; Adolf lovingly petting a German shepherd, & elsewhere observing that a recreational-boar-hunting "Göring should go into the forest with a spear." A squadron of planes flying in perfect swastika formation, Neville Chamberlain's declarations of triumphant diplomacy, even Jesse Owens praising his hosts' treatment at the 12th Olympics.

These were gay, heady times in the Third Reich, and the camera was there to capture it. Fairly fascinating to hear Adolf talk in a calm, conversational tone without spewing venom, and even more refreshing to endure no predictably prejudising Allied-oriented narration, even when things inexorably but slowly begin to take a darker turn in the last third of the film, and der Juden problem begins to emerge (to which a recently fled Einstein vaguely makes a public response).

Quite enlightening to just slowly take it in and in a measured manner comprehend for yourself what you're seeing; thank you, Mr. Mora, for that liberty. Released in the year 1973 (apparently causing something of a riot at its Cannes premiere), was banned im Deutschland for the next 36 for fear that seeing the human side of Hitler would de-demonize him. (The director followed up this effort with his first feature film, Mad Dog Morgan with Dennis Hopper.)

Among the special features (in the Australian version of the DVD, at least), the Leni Riefenstahl attack piece has received both praise and excoriation.

Seeing this doc without a word from anyone, l'd realized a bit awkward, how l love documentaries, this one was an too unusual, all those old footages from the Third Reich in every places, endless speechs by the Fuher, all those political meetings, whatever happens l'll see it until to the end, and it arrives in worst ways, all those death bodies buried by tractors, all cities bombed and were quite often destroyed almost entirely, all those people trying running away from the soldiers or by buildings collapsed by fire, well l'd though poor german people who were compelled to believe in a such mad men, who ruled by force, all those barbarism ends up in a true massacre of sixty millions people in all Europe, Africa and Asia, that is serves as example forever, sorry for the last song mocking for german people, fully unnecessary, this war nobody won!!!

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First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.5

Because this documentary is centered on a place almost universally reviled by everyone on Earth, it was surprising to see it start off with quite a controversial statement. The opening slide states that if future historians demonize Hitler because of what he did, they're going to miss the entire point of the film, as it shows (largely through his eyes) what he really was: a human. This film, while basically just a large assortment of newsreels and footage from prewar Nazi Germany, surprised me more than a few times. With the Second World War being the historical subject I devote the most time to learning about, I wasn't expecting this movie to contain things I have never seen before. Most will be familiar with things like the huge rally in Nuremberg, as well as Neville Chamberlain professing to the British public Hitler won't fight England just because he signed a meaningless agreement. However, there's also scenes of propaganda minister Dr. Goebbels visiting Hitler at his mountain house in southern Bavaria. These types of clips tend to humanize Hitler and make him seem almost normal, which is probably why most people haven't seen them. I really did not expect to see Eva Braun saying how handsome she thinks Clark Gable is either. Her home movies taken at the Obersalzberg have been in countless ww2 documentaries, including what is probably the best one ever (World at War), but they never fail to be eerie to watch. We see her and her sister Gretl swim in a river, and later, she brings her scottish terriers to Hitler's house. Adolf reportedly didn't like Eva's dogs because they bit Blondi, his german shepherd. Ironically, one of her dogs was named Stasi, which would be the name of the postwar secret police in communist east germany. Another thing that caught my attention was taking a look inside the Reich Chancellery, which was the building Hitler commanded germany from. Aside from his office, pretty much the whole entire interior of the building looks like a 5 star hotel. Also shown is an art museum containing the works of National Socialist painters and sculptors, both trying their hardest to capture the perfect likeness of the Nordic race. One of Mussolini's in-laws is present at the opening ceremony. The statues in the museum are quite impressive, given that they were made in the 30s. One consisting of a man and his horse makes even Michaelangelo's David look tiny. The film includes some things that aren't really related to nazism, but were thrown in anyway simply because they occurred in germany. One of these is Einstein talking to an audience after he has learned the nazis want him out of germany. It never crossed my mind, but I think this is the first time I heard him talk. The documentary doesn't go into world war 2 itself, and only focuses on the period from 1933 to 39, but does jump ahead to 1945 at the end. This means it's nowhere near as comprehensive as something like World at War, which not only includes much of the same footage but also includes interviews with people who were within 5 feet of Hitler for much of his time as chancellor. While the footage of the 1936 Olympics, home movies and other things are enough to make the film passable in my eyes, it is hampered by a lack of substance to stand on. The footage is the only thing here telling the story. As a consequence, this will probably only please avid fans of this type of history, but it wasn't a problem for me. There's definitely a lot of things I never saw before, so it's excusable.