Rating:
Directors: Andre Heller, Othmar Schmiderer
Producers: Danny Krausz, Kurt Stocker
Writer: N/A
Camera: Othmar Schmiderer
Cast: N/A
Visit the IMDB page for full cast and crew
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BLIND
SPOT: HITLER'S SECRETARY Rating: Directors: Andre Heller, Othmar Schmiderer Producers: Danny Krausz, Kurt Stocker Writer: N/A Camera: Othmar Schmiderer Cast: N/A Visit the IMDB page for full cast and crew |
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Review by: Curtis
Raines
1/19/03
We have had our share of films that delve deep into the core of Nazi Germany (Schindler's List, Life is Beautiful). My main problem with these films in general is that they are very black and white when it comes to basic human matters. Simply put -- every German was evil and void of any human emotion. There are only so many different times I can watch this stereotypical character on screen before I become bored with it. But Hitler's Secretary brings on a new take about Nazi Germany and, in particular, the man we know as Adolph Hitler. It explores the personal side of, perhaps, the most notorious, baneful leader in the history of the world.
Traudl Junge was Hitler's secretary during World War II and up until the final moments of his life. She knew him on an every day basis and only saw the side of Hitler that isn't in the history books. She didn't see his infamous outstretched solute or hear that deep, powerful sharp voice that we are all too familiar with. She was young (22), apolitical and has been, up until this time, very quiet about her days and experiences with The Fuhrer.
But filmmakers Andre Heller and Othmar Schmiderer have convinced Frau Junge to share her story in a compilation of ten hours worth of interviews edited into a ninety-minute documentary. And when I say documentary, I mean that in the loosest of terms. It's more straight into the camera, breaking the fourth wall commentary than anything. In a very unobtrusive style, the filmmakers literally set a camera on a tripod and let Frau Junge speak away while mixing in a question or two. It's obvious that the facial expressions of Frau Junge, and her reactions to such stories, are the only influence the filmmakers wanted to have. They also incorporate a few shots of the woman watching the playbacks of her interview on television. Does this approach make for interesting cinema? That's debatable. But what isn't debatable is the guilt and pain that Frau Junge felt the last fifty-eight years of her life (she died shortly before this premiered in the Berlin Film Festival). Right from the start she claims that she liked Hitler very much and only realized later just what a monster he was.
More than about Hitler, this documentary is about a woman trying to cope with her feelings of guilt and attempting to overcome the emotional anxiety she has been left with after her days of serving the Fuhrer. At one point she blames being so naïve, but then later claims that even being young she should have known better.
The problem I had with Hitler's Secretary is that not much new light was shed on the man who has been so mysterious to us over the years. I was expecting to hear intimate details about his relationship with wife Eva Braun and discover a side of Hitler not yet realized. And although she does talk of Eva, the details were very minimal. The moments in which she did share his day-to-day activities were by far the most riveting. When she talks about his relationship with his dog, Blondie, for the first time we see Hitler as a normal caring man and not a monster. She also tells of her experience of going through the procedures of getting to be his personal secretary and meeting him for the first time. And perhaps the most powerful moment of the documentary is when she shares the story of Hitler dictating his last will and testament to her in his final days. This paints an incredible picture of a man that had accepted his fate, yet was so fiercely dedicated to his cause and beliefs. But, unfortunately, these stories are too few and far between.
Overall, I liked this experience, but my personal interest lies into topics like this. Unless you are a history buff or are very curious about Hitler, there's not much here that would interest you, and I can't say that I would recommend it. I can see why to some the style of this documentary might be tedious and downright painful to sit through. And I must admit I probably would have rather just read the transcripts of the interview, because not knowing German, I didn't get the full experience of Frau Junge's reactions through subtitles. But there were stories worth hearing that did answer some of the many questions I had going in. This did shed some new light on the madman I find so fascinating, but not nearly as much as I had hoped.
(A Sony Pictures Classics release.
Opens in New York on January 24 and in Los Angeles on January
31. Expands to more cities at later dates.)
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