Hitler, a film from Germany
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Hitler, a film from Germany |
| Country of production | Germany , Great Britain , France |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1977 |
| length | 410 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Hans-Jürgen Syberberg |
| script | Hans-Jürgen Syberberg |
| production | Bernd Eichinger |
| music | Gustav Mahler , Ludwig van Beethoven , Richard Wagner |
| camera | Dietrich Lohmann |
| cut | Julia Brandstaedter |
| occupation | |
| |
Hitler, a film from Germany is a film by the director Hans-Jürgen Syberberg from 1977 about Adolf Hitler during the time of National Socialism . The film is controversial among critics because of its aesthetic presentation. The film was shot in twenty days with a budget of one million DM .
premiere
The film premiered on November 5, 1977 in London . There was a screening for the international press at the Cannes Film Festival . It was first demonstrated in Paris on June 28, 1978. After there were bomb threats against the originally intended Studio des Ursulines , the screening was moved to the La Pagode cinema on Rue du Babylone. The film was shown for the first time in West Germany during the Aschaffenburg Talks on July 8, 1978. On January 4, 1980 it was shown on ARD television . A slightly cut version was performed on January 13, 1980 in New York City . In Brazil , the film was shown on September 28, 2005 at the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival .
Content and scenery
At the beginning and end of the film, Syberberg quotes from Heinrich Heine's poem Nachtgedanken from the Zeitgedichte cycle published in 1844 . The film is divided into the four sections “The Grail”, “A German Dream”, “The End of a Winter Tale” and “We, Children of Hell”. At the beginning Heinz Schubert appears as circus director, then he embodies Hitler, who rises as a demon from Richard Wagner's grave , and later Heinrich Himmler , who has himself massaged. The impression of an artificial studio landscape is created. The film alludes to various symbols of German culture and history with paintings by Philipp Otto Runge and Caspar David Friedrich as well as images of winter landscapes, Greta Garbo and the Reich Chancellery . He also uses historical video and audio material from the National Socialist era, such as recordings from a radio conference call at Christmas during World War II . Syberberg often works with the simultaneous superimposition of noises, music, language, the game scene in the foreground and a film projection in the background. Recurring leitmotifs are sound recordings of a Nazi funeral for "the fallen of the movement" and the snow globe .
criticism
While the German press largely rejected the film, it was protected by prominent publicists in western countries. Essayist Susan Sontag praised the film. The debate about Syberberg and his image of Hitler flared up again in 1990 on the occasion of the publication of his book Vom Unglück und Glück der Kunst in Deutschland after the last war , which was also criticized as an apology for Hitler.
“Seldom has the banality of evil been presented so precisely, [...] [but] after all, Hitler remains an unknown being, the cruel god of an irrationality that Syberberg makes his own. For him, after all, Hitler is also "the greatest filmmaker of all time."
literature
- Hans-Jürgen Syberberg: Hitler, a film from Germany , series: Das neue Buch, 108. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1978, ISBN 3-499-25108-6
- Susan Sontag : Syberberg's Hitler Film. Hanser, Munich 1983 ISBN 3-446-13010-1
- Hans-Joachim Hahn: Syberberg Debate, in: Torben Fischer, Matthias N. Lorenz (Eds.): Lexicon of "Coping with the Past" in Germany: Debate and Discourse History of National Socialism after 1945 , Transcript, Bielefeld 2007, ISBN 3-89942- 773-4 , pp. 216f.
- Hans-Christoph Blumenberg : Dreams in ruins . In: Die Zeit , No. 28, 1978 (report on the Paris premiere)
- Wolfram Schütte : The Savior is calling or: Parzival is looking for Bayreuth . (PDF; 5 pages; 93 kB) In: Frankfurter Rundschau , June 16, 1978
-
Michel Foucault : Les quatres cavaliers de l'Apocalypse et les vermisseaux quotidiens. Entretien avec Bernard Sobel, in: Cahiers du cinéma , n ° 6, hors série. Février 1980, pp. 95f.
- In German: The four apocalyptic riders and the everyday worm, in dsb., Writings on media theory. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt 2012 ISBN 3518296361 pp. 197 - 199
Web links
- Hitler, A Film from Germany in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Excerpt from the film from: Dietrich Kuhlbrodt : German film miracle - Nazis always better . Konkret Literatur Verlag, Hamburg 2006
- Michel Foucault in an interview about the film , 1980, Cahiers de cinéma
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Release certificate for Hitler, a film from Germany . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , April 2007 (PDF; test number: 109 429 DVD).
- ↑ a b c W. Schütte, Frankfurter Rundschau , June 16, 1978
- ↑ a b Hans-Christoph Blumenberg : Dreams in ruins . In: Die Zeit , No. 28/1978.
- ^ So von Hellmuth Karasek : Spring for Hitler . In: Der Spiegel . No. 36 , 1990 ( online ).
- ↑ "Kinozeit: Essays and Reviews on Modern Film 1976 - 1980", p. 142, published in September 1980 by Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag GmbH
- ↑ Only in this special issue on Syberberg, not in the monthly edition of the issue (this = No. 308)! Further contributions to the film by Susan Sontag, Heiner Müller , Douglas Sirk , Francis Ford Coppola . Online see web links
- ↑ Readable electronically in online retail. Also in the complete edition of his writings, Vol. 4, ibid. 2005 ISBN 3518584340