Loosely based on the 1978 book of the same name by Raimund Pretzler (pen name Sebastian Haffner), directors Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker eschew the traditional chronologically based documentary narrative and serve up what Variety magazine referred to as a "free form, go-with-the-flow meditation on the Nazi era."
The film features a number of noted talking heads including Holocaust specialists Saul Friedlander, Yehuda Bauer, Martin Amis, Deborah Lipstadt and Nazi hunters Serge and Beate Klarsfield. All the experts appear to offer no consensus opinion on the "meaning of Hitler," some stating that he is "beyond understanding." The filmmakers go out of their way to focus more on contemporary issues surrounding the legacy of Hitler-particularly an analysis of nascent right-wing nationalism.
A good part of the documentary focuses on notorious Holocaust denier David Irving whose shown giving his personal tours for profit of various concentration camps (Treblinka for example). I'm not sure whether Irving permitted questions but the filmmakers do a poor job in clarifying his bizarre and disingenuous weltanschauung.
The documentary is more successful covering some tangential topics of interest including an interview with the head of Hitler Bunker museum in Berlin or the U. S. Army Center of Military History Chief of Art who shows us some of Hitler's water colors housed in a vast US Army warehouse.
As for Hitler himself, there are a few standard clips from Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will" along with a visit to Hitler's childhood home in Austria. But understanding what Hitler was all about remains completely elusive here. One major topic ignored is the notorious dictator's homosexuality and its prevalence among most of the Nazi hierarchy.
Instead the documentary presents itself as a cautionary tale about the alleged dangers of rising Neo-Nazism which includes clips of young people babbling antisemitic and anti-immigrant epithets along with specious comparisons of Hitler to Donald Trump.
A pre-pandemic effort, The Meaning of Hitler completely fails to correctly foresee the rise of a new authoritarian worldwide movement, far more powerful in scope than the bad neo-Nazi actors chronicled here. And that of course is the apparent new tyranny led by government and public health officials demanding compliance to a singular prescription for health treatment.
The film features a number of noted talking heads including Holocaust specialists Saul Friedlander, Yehuda Bauer, Martin Amis, Deborah Lipstadt and Nazi hunters Serge and Beate Klarsfield. All the experts appear to offer no consensus opinion on the "meaning of Hitler," some stating that he is "beyond understanding." The filmmakers go out of their way to focus more on contemporary issues surrounding the legacy of Hitler-particularly an analysis of nascent right-wing nationalism.
A good part of the documentary focuses on notorious Holocaust denier David Irving whose shown giving his personal tours for profit of various concentration camps (Treblinka for example). I'm not sure whether Irving permitted questions but the filmmakers do a poor job in clarifying his bizarre and disingenuous weltanschauung.
The documentary is more successful covering some tangential topics of interest including an interview with the head of Hitler Bunker museum in Berlin or the U. S. Army Center of Military History Chief of Art who shows us some of Hitler's water colors housed in a vast US Army warehouse.
As for Hitler himself, there are a few standard clips from Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will" along with a visit to Hitler's childhood home in Austria. But understanding what Hitler was all about remains completely elusive here. One major topic ignored is the notorious dictator's homosexuality and its prevalence among most of the Nazi hierarchy.
Instead the documentary presents itself as a cautionary tale about the alleged dangers of rising Neo-Nazism which includes clips of young people babbling antisemitic and anti-immigrant epithets along with specious comparisons of Hitler to Donald Trump.
A pre-pandemic effort, The Meaning of Hitler completely fails to correctly foresee the rise of a new authoritarian worldwide movement, far more powerful in scope than the bad neo-Nazi actors chronicled here. And that of course is the apparent new tyranny led by government and public health officials demanding compliance to a singular prescription for health treatment.