Genre:
Drama
Release Date: 10/09/2007
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD5.1/DD2
Run Time: 186 Minutes
Distributor/Studio: Koch Vision
British actor
Robert Carlyle stars as the 20th century's most infamous dictator in this two-part TV
biopic. The film covers the life of
Adolf Hitler from his childhood to his emergence as absolute ruler of Germany in 1934. Most of the ground covered should be familiar to history buffs:
Hitler's failed efforts to become a great artist, his frustration at watching his adopted country fall apart at the seams during World War I, his resolve to put Germany back on its feet by exploiting the nation's horrendous postwar economic woes and its ingrained anti-Semitism, his 1923 arrest, the publication of
Hitler's virulent screed
Mein Kampf, the growing popularity of National Socialism, and the fatal error made by senile German chancellor
Von Hindbenburg (
Peter O'Toole) to "neutralize"
Hitler by giving him a relatively unimportant political post in 1933. Also covered is
Hitler's abortive romance with his half-niece
Geli Raubal (
Jena Malone) and his longer relationship with the estimable
Eva Braun (
Zoe Telford). Given the difficulties faced by actor
Carlyle and the screenwriters to successfully convey pure, unadulterated evil, much of what we learn about
Hitler is conveyed by the observations and reactions of other characters, notably crusading but ineffectual anti-Nazi journalist
Fritz Gerlich (
Matthew Modine), and especially German publisher
Ernst Hanfstaengl (
Liev Schreiber) and his wife,
Helene (
Julianna Margulies). Originally a staunch supporter of
Hitler,
Hanfstaengl eventually comes to realize the danger the man poses to the world ("He's not human. He simply studies others to become human."); in contrast,
Helene, who at the outset is vaguely opposed to National Socialism, is ultimately seduced and swept up by the movement. Not surprisingly, this film stirred up a great deal of controversy even before it aired; some Jewish leaders and prominent Holocaust survivors worried that
Hitler might come off as being sympathetic (a concern that may have dictated altering the film's title, which was to have been
Hitler: The Early Years); and one of the film's producers was summarily dismissed after issuing a public statement which seemed to compare Germany's blind, unthinking allegiance to
Hitler to America's rallying behind
George W. Bush during the Iraq crisis.
Hitler: The Rise of Evil originally aired May 18 and 20, 2003, on
CBS.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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