Hitler: A Film from Germany
| Hitler: A Film from Germany | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
|
|
| Directed by | Hans-Jürgen Syberberg |
| Produced by | Bernd Eichinger |
| Written by | Hans-Jürgen Syberberg |
| Starring | Heinz Schubert |
| Narrated by | Hans-Jürgen Syberberg |
| Cinematography | Dietrich Lohmann |
| Edited by | Jutta Brandstaedter |
| Distributed by | Omni Zoetrope (US) |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
442 minutes |
| Country | West Germany France United Kingdom |
| Language | German English French Russian |
Hitler: A Film from Germany (German: Hitler, ein Film aus Deutschland), called Our Hitler in the US, is a 1977 Franco-British-German experimental film directed by Hans-Jürgen Syberberg, produced by Bernd Eichinger, and co-produced by the BBC. It starred Heinz Schubert, who played both Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler. Along with Syberberg's characteristic and unusual motifs and style, the film is also notable for its 442-minute running time.
Hitler: A Film from Germany has no clear plot or chronology. Instead, each part explores one particular topic.
One particular plot device, especially for mocking post-war fascination and cliches about Hitler and Nazism, is endless recitals from the non-fictitious autobiographies of people in direct contact with Hitler on his lifestyle, such as by Hitler's personal valet Heinz Linge (played by ) and his adjutant Otto Günsche (played by ), talking to the camera as if the spectator would be a young person who intends to learn about Hitler, while these seemingly endless passages end with original radio broadcasts on German war casualties and lost battles. This plot device thus mocks both Hitler's affiliation with his own personality and his increasingly delusional state that made him more and more unable to accurately lead a war the longer it lasted, as well as it mocks post-war German fascination with every little detail about historical Nazism and its personage, indicating that this post-war fascination might be nothing but subconscious admiration that will once more lead Germany to repeat the same downfall as apparent in the radio broadcasts.
Himmler's personality is sometimes explored in a similar way by reciting the memories of such people as Himmler's personal astrologist (played by Peter Moland), or his masseur Felix Kersten (played by ), though not as extensively as in Hitler's case and not ending in such dramatic radio broadcasts.
...
Wikipedia