DVD Review - Hitler: A Career
Posted by Jay C on December 16th, 2007
Filed under: News, Reviews
Hitler: A Career
Directed by: Joachim Fest and Christian Herrendoerfer
Distributed by: First Run Features
Nothing will kill a swingin’ party like throwing on a copy of ‘Hitler: A Career’. This 151 minute long, 1977 documentary is the ultimate guide in how NOT to entertain. As it should be. The definitive film about one of the world’s most notorious, disgusting, pathetic madman’s ability to charm an entire country, convincing them to dress like Star Wars villians and take over the world is not meant to entertain, but rather play as a reminder of a very low point in human history.
The film follow’s a pretty basic format, tracking Hitler’s rise and fall through archival footage. A narrator fills in the details as we watch the world’s most notorious madman somehow convince an entire country of his plan to rule the world. In what is probably the most astonishing aspect of World War 2, the German people simply follow orders in what seems like a massive case of temporary insanity. The whole thing reminds me of the famous Milgram experiment in which a subject would give electric shocks to a person (played by an actor, unbenownst to the subject) whenever they would fail to answer a question correctly. Ultimately it was a test of obedience, and the results showed that people were willing to do almost anything when being told by an authority figure. The follow up experiment showed even more interesting results as people were told to shock a puppy, this time receiving actual shocks, right before their own eyes. Milgram’s conclusion: ‘If a system of death camps were set up in the United States of the sort we had seen in Nazi Germany, one would be able to find sufficient personnel for those camps in any medium-sized American town.’
Thirty years after its original release, ‘Hitler: A Career’ still holds up as a powerful film, even if it doesn’t really contain any historical information you probably hadn’t already known. As a text book document of ‘How Human’s Can Go Horribly Awry’, it’s the perfect reminder of an embarassingly disgusting legacy led by a madman who convinced an entire country to see things his way.
Trip on 
December 16th, 2007 14:38
How much of it is Hitler and how much is people talking about Hitler?
I will admit to a morbid curiosity to actually watching footage of him speaking etc. But I don’t have much interest in history lessons from various other sources. That’s TV stuff.
December 16th, 2007 21:15
It’s all archival footage. No talking heads at all.
December 19th, 2007 20:05
Stalin was worse than Hitler.
December 23rd, 2007 15:37
I’m not much of a history buff, but from what I understand, Hitler rose to power because his economic policies made things better for the German people. I don’t understand where the idea of purification of the race and elimination of all the Jews came in.
In the archival footage, are there Hitler speeches that are subtitled in English or a translation provided by the narrator?
Culturally, you could say that Americans are mentally deluded into killing people for the cause of freedom. The way I see it, people will always have a reason to kill. As the great imperialist Captain Kirk once said, and I’m paraphrasing here, “It’s in our nature to kill, but what we have to try to do is not kill today.”
Addressing Baychuk’s comment, there is a perception that Hitler gets slagged a lot when there are “more evil” people who don’t seem to get attention. I wonder if people living in Russia speak more ill of Stalin than Hitler. Didn’t Stalin kill all kinds of people, even his “own kind”? Maybe racist killing is more evil than regular killing.
BTW, Mao Tse-Tung was responsible for much torture and death, yet, there are people who still worship the guy.
This kind of conversation warms the cockles of my heart around the Xmas hearth.
December 25th, 2007 21:00
Not to start a “Was Hitler evil?” debate, but it’s interesting that there’s currently a furor (pun intended) over supposedly misquoted comments from Will Smith. I think Will Smith was saying that Hitler didn’t wake up every morning thinking he himself was evil and this got misconstrued as Will Smith thinking Hitler wasn’t evil either.
I think it’s unfair that journalizts get accused of twisting someone’s words when the misinterpretation comes from the reader of the comments.
As a side note, I think all people are basically “evil” because survival depends on hurting others. Being “good” is a by-product of consciousness where co-operation may result in what seems like “good” acts, but the benefit is to the individual.
December 27th, 2007 08:03
One might argue back, that we in our neck of the woods have grown beyond this notion of ’survival’. The society we have formed have is providing us all with survival, so that we may in fact focus our thoughts and beings towards more lofty ideals. Not everybody is cut out for this, and abuse the system, but it allows for growth and further development of the race.
But yeah, as long as you’re concerned with getting nurture and shelter, you’re inherently going to commit acts that may be considered evil. They are not malevolent in nature though, as they are solely focused on yourself. They are not meant to harm others, that is just a byproduct of your own survival.
December 27th, 2007 08:09
I think Hitler was pretty evil, but I also think that people need to be able to talk about him and his reich without being hysterical little babies. It is allright to say that Hitler did not think of himself as evil. It is alright to say that they threw impressive looking parades, and that some of the generals were military geniuses. Hitlers 3rd reich was presented as aesthetically pleasing - that is not an endorsement of the politics and ideals, that is a fact - and it makes it that much more heartbreaking. You can’t help but look at some of the propaganda and feel like it’s an overwhelming experience, but of course you know what is behind it all, and it scares you when you realize that you yourself was slightly seduced. Saying that Jüd SuB is a remarkable film does not mean you want to kill jews. It just means you have good taste in film. Just as praising The Godfather doesn’t make you endorse the politics of gangsters, or praising Die Hard doesn’t make you endorse vigilantism.
December 28th, 2007 21:18
Agreed. Tabloid reporters are a bunch of asshole idiots just trying to smear a good name (Will Smith).
And on your comment about Mao Tse-Tung, there are also people who worship Che Guevara who became a mass murderer of women and children. Those t-shirts the kids like to wear these days never did sit right with me.
January 25th, 2008 02:26
To say “A narrator fills in the details as we watch the world’s most notorious madman somehow convince an entire country of his plan to rule the world.” is of course a flawed premise. Not sure whether it is the actual view of the film or your review of it.
But there is a good deal of evidence (see Daniel Goldhagen’s book) that in fact the German people already shared most of Hitler’s views, which made it relatively simple for Hitler & the Nazis to act upon those beliefs.
It’s important not to dismiss Hitler as a mere madman (even if he was mad), because that allows us to dismiss him, when in fact we should continually look deeply into how such a person could come to exist and then come to power.
January 25th, 2008 11:26
Hey Adam,
By madman, I suppose I’m referring to his progression throughout the film. He starts with some legitimate intentions, but grows more out of touch and more insane as his power rises. Or at least that’s how I felt the film portrayed the events.
Just to be clear, I am in no way an expert on this subject.