Hitler's War
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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.
Movie Review: Poor Hitler's Almanac: A Sympathetic Take From the German POV
Summary: 3 Stars
Not surprising that this documentary, relatively sympathetic to Hitler and the German war effort, was written by Hitler-worshiper and Holocaust poo-pooher David Irving (a fact conspicuously and probably deliberately omitted from the wrapping or the imagery on the front of the disc!). It's well written and basically a very good overview of the progress of the European war "from Hitler's view" (with frequent references to the Fuhrer's physical and mental state, his involvement with his doctors, his inability to sleep, etc., etc.) Predictably not mentioned (given writer Irving's orientation) is any reference to the Einsatzgruppen death squads, the brutalities and well-documented atrocities of German troops (e.g., the Malmedy Massacre, Babi Yar), or, most noticeably, the concentration camps and ruthless murders of millions of innocent Jewish men, women, and children, and the inhuman brutalities inflicted on Russian civilians and villages. The film does manage to mention the "100,000 deaths" (a wildly, self-serving and undocumented number of casualties)in Dresden, caused by Allied air raids. And the script says nothing negative about Hitler, such as the now generally recognized fact that his own incompetence as a military leader led to one disaster after another in the Russian campaign, and led to the failure to make good use of the so-called "miracle weapons" such as the ME-262 jet plane, which Hitler insisted be developed as a bomber instead of a fighter, which could have helped win the air war over Britain or seriously compromised the D-Day invasion!
All in all, a documentary that needs to be supplemented by other sources...as is true of everything David Irving writes!
Movie Review: Highlights Of Hitler's War
Summary: 3 Stars
Hitler's War is a very fast paced documentary which specifically looks at Hitler's strategy and actions from 1940 to his bitter end in 1945. The film consists of mostly real war footage with narration. This is a no-nonsense and at times, confusing coverage of six years of war in less than two hours. It mainly looks at Hitler's plan for war with Russia and its resulting failure. The Russian weather and T34 tank apparently had a big role in holding back Hitler.
Those of you looking for a complete documentary of the war, or who are fairly new to the subject should only use this film as a supplement to other films. It's fast paced look at Hitler's actions may very well go over most peoples heads who are trying to understand the war itself. This somewhat reduces it's emotional impact. There just isn't enough time to contemplate what you have just seen as the next segment comes about.
Most of this film is real war footage. Something I can always appreciate given my disdain for History-Channel style re-enactments.
This film is in two distinct parts. Make sure to come back to the main DVD screen and watch part two when finished with part one.
Movie Review: A Little Too Pro Hitler
Summary: 3 Stars
The quality and production values are good, but the script is definitely Pro-Hitler. Really that is not what I expected. I was just looking for additional documentaries after purchasing World At War. The script blames the German High Command for mistakes and not much blame is placed on Hitler himself. It also describes the attempt on Hitler's life as "murder" which I think is incorrect. Also the script suggests that Stalin wanted to put together a peace agreement with Germany late in the war, an idea I think shows how off base this documentary is. For the history buff it has some interesting parts, but some of the script is way too pro-Hitler.Movie Review: Mediocre at best.
Summary: 2 Stars
Needing only a few bucks more to complete a free shipping order, I tacked this on. Normally I read some reviews of a product before I decide to get it, but I skipped it this time. It came back to bite me in the butt. After watching the first of 2 parts I started to get the impression that this was a little different than the war I had had an interest about for 40 some years. Lo and behold the credits revealed it written by a revisionist named David Irving. Had I read a few of the reviews by some of the other very observant participants who purchased this item, I would have skipped it.
There may be some good footage as well as a general overview of the course of the war, but it interjects some subtle "poor Germany" and "vicious Allies". into the narrative. I won't go into much more other than to say save your money and put it towards something like BBC's "The World At War" or Millcreek Entertainment's "War In Europe". Don't let this one come back and bite you in the butt.
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