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Bruno Ganz ( The Manchurian Candidate) brings Hitler to life with a chilling portrayal that is intensive and introspective, unlike other films you’ve seen about him. Our visual image of Hitler is mostly from documentary footage when he was on top of his game; reviewing the troops and watching soldiers goose-step past his parade stand. While the film hints at a compassionate side of Hitler, it has no sympathy for him. The film’s focus is on the final days when things were not going well at all. Hitler is obviously delusional; ordering the movement of troops, that do not exist, to fight battles that would turn the tide of the war.Told from the narrative viewpoint of Traudl June (Alexandra Maria Lara), this story links itself to both a book, Inside Hitler's Bunker: The Last Days of the Third Reich by Joachim Fest and the film "Blind Spot: Hitler’s Secretary." It has a near documentary authenticity.Shot primarily inside Hitler’s Berlin bunker, with only enough bleak footage of what was going on in Berlin to allow you to feel the certain victory of the approaching Russians, the intensity of the film is similar to that of being in a submarine where depth charges are exploding all around you. When it’s over will you even know it? It’s easy to see why the film was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Film Category. It makes you feel like you knew Hitler. He could be kind to his secretaries and absolutely ruthless to those under his command; Jews and other "alien races." Hitler believed that he had a "mandate" to govern under his policies and beliefs. When the end was near, some of his supporters were interested in saving their skin, but many who believed in "National Socialism" decided it was better to commit suicide rather than live in the decadent world of the west. War was meant to be a path to peace in a utopian world envisioned by Hitler. It became his undoing, as well as for 50 million other people during World War II. As in the documentary film about Robert McNamara, Fog of War, this too illustrates that mankind does not seem to get it when it comes to the notion of war being a path to peace. It’s for these reasons that we are not sure what conclusions we can draw from better understanding Hitler. It’s enlightening, but it only matters if the people that make decisions about going to war believe that force is used only as a last resort, rather than a substitute for diplomacy. The best defense is not always a great offense.
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