Hitler's War
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DVD Cover Information Artist: Artist Not Provided Brand: RED Distribution DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: English (Original Language) Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC Picture Format: 1.33:1 Running Time: 115 minutes DVD Release Date: 2005-07-12 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Studio: Eagle Vision Media |
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Movie Reviews of Hitler's War
Movie Review: The title is revealing...
Summary: 3 Stars
This documentary consists of two parts; the first recounts the ascendancy of Nazi Germany to the domination of Europe while the second tells the story of its downfall following the Russian campaign and the entering of the United States in the War.
The images are gripping and the narration follows them in short sentences and quick style. In it most of the major battles and events are recounted, yet mostly from the perspective of how Hitler viewed them - the title of the documentary is revealing. It is not easy to say that the story told is biased yet I had some qualms while watching it; at first without knowing why but gradually I came to grips with what seemed to me disturbing.
First of all the music: apart from the classic Wagner stuff, there was the elegiac second part of Beethoven's 7th Symphony. Now what is wrong with the use of this music? What is wrong is that combined with scenes that show the sublimity of war - because war and especially WWII, despite its cruelty and because of its immensity is a sublime spectacle - e.g. the formation of bombers crowding the English skies or the panzers on the Russian plains, it emphasizes this aspect of war (sublimity)and subtly forces upon the viewer to perceive it as an artistic phenomenon. If this seems far fetched, then what is not is the fact that as the documentary ends by telling a detailed account of the last moments of Hitler and Eva Brown: how Eva Brown in the Bunker sits on the sofa besides Hitler, takes of her shoes, leans her head against him and bites her cyanide capsule while Hitler points his revolver at his right(!) temple - Beethoven's elegiac music is playing while a picture of Hitler is shown on screen and the credits scroll briefly and the picture remains on screen for us as if to pay tribute to this personality. The use of such sublime and mournful music to accompany the recounting of the last moments of one of history's grimmest figures is for me unacceptable. And this subtle attempt at glorification is not unintentional as the end credits reveal: "written by David Irving". David Irving as you might well know is a controversial WWII historian who has been described as pro-nazi and has argued that Hitler was unaware of the mass extermination of Jews, Gipsies and other groups of people. Of course everyone has a right to express his own views, but why not noting on the cover of the dvd by whom this documentary is written. Especially when the writer is such a controversial figure. Instead of that we have the words: "Gripping Drama, Complex Characters, True Stories". If this is not an invocation for pleasure watching, then what is?
The above objection has mainly to do with the form of presentation of the documentary, but there are other objections concerning content also. Emphasis is laid to the fact (?) that Hitler was hoping for a negotiation with the British and that Churchill was the one who stiffened the resolve of his people to fight thereby leading to an escalation of war, while most other nations, Hungary, Romania, Ukraine are portrayed as seeing in Hitler a liberator. This, sided with Hitler's wish to build autobahns from the Urals to the Pyrenees makes one wonder whether Hitler was really such a dark figure as he is usually portraid or whether he was a someone with less gloomy intentions. While acknowledging that Germans mistreated Ukrainians, more emphasis is laid on the atrocities of the Russians when they came to the offensive than those commited by the Germans. Also a remark Hitler made to the effect that Russia was going to be his India is mentioned. For what reason? Could German aggression be excused because Europeans exploited other nations in the past? As far as the Holocaust is concerned, a few images are shown of people gathered for deportation - in not very bad conditions - and something outrageously racist and vague otherwise, is said about the deportation having to be bloody of which we are not told if is a quote from Hitler or not. All this lasts for just a few seconds! Apart from this at one point it is mentioned that there has been some unrest in Germany following the spread of the news concerning the euthanasia project and that Hitler agreed on Goebbels proposed intensification of measures. And the matter is left at that.
While I could not describe this documentary as lying in the sense of telling something untrue -(neither the spectacular support Hitler had from the German people, neither the atrocities of the Russians, nor the bombing of "Europe's most beautiful cities" are lies) - the emphasis laid on the various events recounted lends to my opinion - not overtly though, and maybe this is more dangerous - a pro nazi flavour to the film.