How did a provincial rabble-rouser from Austria rise to become Germany's messian

ic Fuhrer? Why did Germans from all walks of life embrace the fascist Nazi philo
sophy and willingly follow Hitler into a titanic conflict and utter destruction?
Joachim C. Fest and Christian Herrendoerfer's meticulously assembled film dissec
ts the Third Reich with a keen analytical blade, charting Hitler's improbable ri
se, his mastery of imagery and crowd psychology, and his consummate skill in exp
loiting the weaknesses in others.
Examining the public and private dynamics of Nazism's unhinged dictatorship by m
aking use of an amazing array of never-before-seen film footage from secret arch
ives and private collections, HITLER: A CAREER uncovers the deeper causes behind
the rise and fall of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich.
FEATURING FOOTAGE OF: Adolf Hitler, Eva Braun, Josef Goebbels, Hermann Gring, Rei
nhard Heydrich, Heinrich Himmler, Rudolf Hess, Benito Mussolini, Erwin Rommel, A
lbert Speer, Paul von Hindenburg, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Neville Chamberlain, C
harles Chaplin, Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, Ernst Lubitsch & more.
This feature-length documentary - the first such post-war documentary of the Naz
i years to be released in Germany - is a bona fide standard by which all other d
ocumentaries about Hitler are measured. Aired on the Discovery Channel many year
s back as Hitler: The Whole Story, this film relies solely on documentary footag
e and English narration provided by Stephen Murray - there are no talking heads,
no deep analysis by modern "experts." This version has English subtitles of Hit
ler's German speeches as well as those delivered by his henchmen.
Unlike many related documentaries, the war years do not receive primary focus he
re. Instead, this feature's prime coverage is on Hitler's rise to power from obs
curity, his political, oratory, and manipulative genius, and how everyday German
s of that era were fully taken in by his spellbinding theater, unprecedented pag
eantry, and expert use of imagery.
What Others Have Said About HITLER: A CAREER
Long lines of Germans have been lining up to see a new hit. The central figure -
his black hair combed flat across his forehead, his impassioned voice exhorting
his followers to build a thousand-year Reich - is der Fhrer himself. The 2-1/2 h
our documentary about him, Hitler: A Career, is the smash of the summer, drawing
thousands to the box offices and spurring a nationwide re-examination of the Na
zi past.
The footage of Nazi atrocities and the wholesale destruction of German cities du
ring the war never fails to stun audiences, even those Germans who have been imm
ersed in an atmosphere of guilt for 30 years.
To younger viewers the film is a revelation. The school system of West Germany a
fter the war either disregarded the Hitler period or raced through it. Among old
er viewers the reaction is often uneasiness. Says one Berliner, 76: 'That was ho
w Hitler was. He was black magic, and intoxicated people.'
Producer Joachim Fest, author of a massive biography on Hitler, drew upon film c
lips of the 1920s, '30s and '40s, setting out to make a movie that would explore
how an obscure Austrian postcard artist could win power and put it to such evil
purposes.
Says Fest: 'If you want to make a society a little more secure against someone l
ike Hitler, then you must give people an understanding of the forces that were s
o appealing. There is a big need to know how it all could have happened.'
--TIME Magazine, 1977
Being Jewish, I never thought I would sit through a film about the most evil man
who ever lived, Adolf Hitler. Neither did I ever think I would use my valuable
time to review a film about him. Yet "Hitler: A Career" (First Run Features) is
a film that is so important and so relevant that it must be seen and therefore I
feel a duty to comment on it.
I know I am not alone in wondering how a man like Hitler could become a messiani
c figure to the people of Germany. What was it that caused Germans to embrace th
e fascism of Nazism and follow him? What we learn from the movie is that many Ge
rmans themselves do not have an answer to this and they have lined up to see thi
s documentary that runs for two and a half hours.
In the early 1970's there began a new interest in the Fuhrer and Joachim Fest, w
ho had written the definitive history of Hitler, decided to put everything down
on the printed page and then eventually make a movie based on his book. He wante
d to make a movie that would look at how an obscure minor artist from Austria co
uld not come to power but use that power for evil.
This film has faced harsh criticism. Some have said that it glorifies Hitler's a
ppeal and does not deal with the consequences of evil. Jews claim that it just l
ooks at the surface of the horrors he brought about and shows Hitler as a "hypno
tic spellbinder" who lured Germans into a terrible and criminal war. One critic
called the film "dangerous" and claims that the film is so academic that it is a
bove the intellectual capability of the masses. Other critics feel that the film
sells the masses short.
The footage of Nazi atrocities and the destruction of German cities stuns. Other
scenes evoke nervous laughter especially those scenes when the crowds seem to w
orship the man. But these issues are not what the film is about. It looks at and
carefully explores just how the man rose to power and how he managed to lead Ge
rmany to destruction, In order to understand the age of Hitler, we must understa
nd the appeal of the man who. We NEED to know how this happened.
Given the subject, I did not expect this movie to hold me the way that it did. I
t completely and utterly dissects the Third Reich as it looks at the rise of Hit
ler. Much of the footage in this film has never been seen before and as the movi
e examines the causes behind the rise of this evil, we begin to understand. Howe
ver, I do not think that I will ever comprehend the useless murder of over 6.000
,000 of my people.
--Amos Lassen
Hitler: A Career isn t like any of the other documentaries I have seen about Hitle
r. There isn t talk of megalomania or his fatalistic charm. They don t call him a ma
d genius who came close to conquering the world. No, the narrator in this docume
ntary calls him what he was, a rabble-rouser who knew how to use fear, brutality
, lies, and propaganda to get what he wanted. He played to the people s wants and
desires by tapping into their feelings of self worth that had seemed all but los
t after the German defeat in World War I.
Very well put together with some rare early party footage. The story gives Hitler s
basic background up to his battle experiences on the Western Front, but it mainl
y sticks to how he became leader of the German people. What I thought was done s
killfully was the way this film dismantled one of his speeches, showing step by
step how he would work the crowd. Timing with Hitler was everything and during h
is speeches he would use this to his advantage, along with body gestures and a s
pecific pattern during the speech that would feed upon the energy and emotion of
the frenzied crowd. The film follows him all the way to his demise showing ever
yone that this man wasn t so smart and truly had no plans to save his people.
This films digs real deep into what Nazism is, showing the complexities and cont
radictions of not only the movement but the leader himself. It explores the man
and reveals his inequities and lonesomeness that plagued him wherever he went. T
here is amazing archival footage of Hitler s early days before he became Chancello
r of Germany, when the Party was only a few thousand strong, to those final days
in the bunker just before he committed suicide. Why and how the National Social
ists rose so quickly can be attributed to Hitler as well as its fall. For we lea
rn that as more and more Germans started to believe in him, the man himself star
ted to believe the propaganda he created. After a few battle victories he helped
organize, Hitler thought he had become a great warrior general, those who he dr
eamed of while listing to the symphonies of Wagner.
Great orators say powerful things. They don t need to work the crowd so they can g
et the best response. This DVD brings to light why all those people seemed so in
a trance when Hitler spoke and how he used timing and body language to seduce t
hose around him and how he played upon their worst fears to make him look like t
he only savior on the horizon. Hitler: A Career is one of the best films I have
seen that explains how and why so many followed a man who rallied around hate an
d terror.
--Fumo Verde