Hitler-Hollywood's Enigma

Mussolini and Hitler

"Hey Benito, do ya think Juventus will beat Inter tommorrow?"



As a follow-up to my posting on the "Valkyrie" movie, I thought I would jot down a few thoughts on a topic that has puzzled me for decades-that of Adolf Hitler himself. As an amateur scholar of the Third Reich, I have read extensively about Hitler and know quite a bit about the details of his life. Several years ago, I came to the opinion that he was probably the most-photographed man in history. Since he lived in the era after photography was invented and is generally considered (rightfully in my view) as the most evil figure in world history to date, I am probably correct in that opinion.

Yet, it seems to me that in all the movies about Nazi Germany, few if any seem to be able to accurately portray this man beyond the obvious evil. I guess the closest I have seen is the German movie, "Downfall", which is based on the autobiography of Traudl Junge, one of Hitler's secretaries, who was present in the Berlin bunker in the final days. Most, if not all movies only seem to be able to bring out the brooding (as in "Valkyrie") or the rages of temper that he was famous for. In addition, since Hitler's visage is known to all, it is also a challenge to dress up an actor who truly looks like the dictator himself, let alone capture his personality.

I think one problem is that for all the photographs, the film clips and newsreels of his speeches, there is precious little that captures Hitler in any recorded conversation. Film clips of him greeting people or discussing anything are invariably silent. There is almost nothing available that shows him in everyday conversation with people in which we can listen to a soundtrack.

Today, we have the advantage of sit-down interviews with journalists that are recorded live on TV where we can get a sense of the politician's personality or character. Think of any recent American president. With our politicians, we have an opportunity to form an impression of the person's personality for better or worse. We don't have that with Hitler. Perhaps, there is something like that buried deep in the German National Archives, who knows?.

What we have are eyewitness accounts of his contemporaries, those who knew him and worked for him. Many of these accounts describe a man who could be kind and considerate to the lowly servants or secretaries who worked under him. (Apparently, most of his rages were reserved for his generals or other Nazi officials.) Of course, any movie producer has to deal carefully showing anything positive about his personality for fear of appearing to try to show him in a positive light.

So it seems to me that Hollywood-and perhaps even German filmmakers-have little to work with. The result is that we see this man uniformly portrayed as angry or brooding 24-7. Of course, this is in perfect conformity with history's judgement of Hitler as the quintessential evil madman, which he clearly was. However, if we had more than just the silent film clips and recorded speeches, would we have a better insight into the man and what made him tick?