Hitler's S.S.: Portrait in Evil

in a long list of films about Nazi Germany, this movie seems be an exception. first because it is story of people, seduced, proud, discovering the truth and the fall of a regime who, for a time, was the image of personal success. sure, the critics are many about it. because its ambition is to be a large fresco of a dictatorship. and an embroidery with too many motifs. because it use stereotypes who , not always, are real convincing. because , after its end, you feel something missing. but it is an interesting trip in the essence of the perceptions about a dictatorship. and this virtue remains not insignificant.

What I particularly liked about this movie was the fact that it showed a view of the Nazi regime from a different perspective, that of two young German brothers.

In the beginning when the Nazi party is first coming to power we see the life of two young German men. Like everyone else in Germany at that time they too are caught up in Hitler's fanaticism. One brother joins the S.A. and is chided by the other for going along with that "rubbish". But he ends up getting caught up in the S.S. when he is confronted by Heydrich at his university who then persuades him to join not for his beliefs in politics but for his intelligence. Neither knew what they were getting themselves into.

What's most interesting about this story is the emotional aspects. Seeing how the brothers reacted to things that were starting to happen in the Third Reich. It was all minuscule all first. Seeing S.A. officers push an old man down some stairs. The noble but innocent younger brother tries throughout the war to change the evil that was happening all around him but finds that he is blatantly overwhelmed by opposition from his fellow Germans. While the older brother accepts what he cannot change and tries to help his younger brother into being smarter about his actions. Both are forced along a path that is becoming increasingly harder to follow. It definitely shows how some Germans were forced to go along with what was happening or be killed themselves.

The acting in this movie was really well done. My only gripe was that the actors had British accents all throughout the movie which made you wake up from the story and detract from the realism. Some parts I busted up laughing seeing these guys in Nazi uniforms talking in thick British accents. But the acting by the two brothers was very good and believable. It was very emotional to see what they were going through and felt as they watched people die and the world change around them.

at first sigh + a sketch about Nazi history . at the second - an inspired remember about birth and fall of a regime, about the touch of politics against family, about ideal and truth. it is not a movie for history fans and it is not the Schindler List. it could be an introduction to a large theme but, in same measure, slice of good acting. because it present in different manner the spirit of a period. and that fact is a good job. it introduce the viewer in the heart of evil not very convincing in many scenes but useful. and that fact is real important for understand a machine of power. Bill Naghy seems be a kind of clone of Peter O'Toole in the Night of Generals and this fact is an interesting detail. John Shea use a special experience who gives to role a nice game of nuances. Jose Ferrer is himself. and , without be a great movie, it is an useful remember.

Handsomely produced TV film is an ambitious project in that it follows the rise of the Third Reich while telling the story of a German family, in particular, two brothers (BILL NIGHY and JOHN SHEA) who are swept into the wartime problems when the oldest joins the SS in 1931 and becomes a good Nazi (until he sees the scope of the horror) and the other eventually joins because he's under the illusion that he can change things from the inside.

Although it covers a span of '33 to '45, none of the actors age noticeably, the one weakness in an otherwise carefully detailed production.

This is not the first time this sort of subject has been handled. A less epic, more narrowly focused melodrama of two brothers with opposing viewpoints was made in the 1940s (UNDERGROUND - 1941) with JEFFREY LYNN and PHILIP DORN as German brothers taking opposite viewpoints of the wartime philosophy and directed by Vincent Sherman. Although it was a well done melodrama, it did not attempt to get the full flavor of the Third Reich and its various operations as this film does.

JOHN SHEA is especially impressive as the brother who speaks his mind against some of the Nazi practices and at one point even ends up for awhile in Dachau, the concentration camp. The other brother manages to get him released but there are still many trials and tribulations for both of them before the film reaches a dramatic climax. CARROL BAKER does a nice job as a worried German mother.

David WARNER is impressive as Reinhard Heydrich, the sarcastic and brutal Nazi officer who gets his comeuppance before the war is over. All of the performances are first rate and the story covers a good deal of actual history without ever losing track of its main characters.

Absorbing stuff, lengthy, but well worth watching.

This was a rather good film. It artfully tells the story of the days just after the Nazi "Machtergreifung", and the power struggle between Himmler's SS (with Heydrich's SD an important part) and Ernst Röhm's SA, through the Hoffman family. Karl, a seeming true-blue National Socialist, joins the SA. His brother Helmut, an opportunist, joins the SS for career advancement, and deluding himself into believing that by being in the SS, he could "Do good on the inside".

This film does an excellent job in examining the motivations of Nazis, and of human feelings through Karl and Helmut's sibling rivalry. The acting was excellent, featuring Jose Ferrer as Helmut's old teacher, who is a Jew. However, I found the actress playing Mitzi to be repulsively vacuous. Tony Randall's cameo appearance was brilliant, among others.

Where this film fails is that it tries to do too much. Ity tries far too hard to address every issue involved in discussing the Third Reich, from Anti-Semitism, to the cause of the war, to the Hitler Youth, to propaganda, and so forth. This causes much superficiality, so that none of these topics is thoroughly addressed. The largest strength to this film, is that it so bravely and accurately portrays a historic episode, known as the Night of the Long Knives, in which Hitler has Röhm, and his SA leadership killed, presumably because they were planning a Putsch against Hitler. It re-examines an old issue, and it does it cunningly.