Hitler, ein Film aus Deutschland, Teil IV: Wir Kinder der Hölle

Hitler, elokuva Saksasta IV: Me helvetin lapset / Hitler, a Film from Germany IV: We Children of Hell. Wir Kinder der Hölle erinnern uns an das Zeitalter des Graals / We Children of Hell Reminiscence the Age of the Grail. For credits see 29 March. 105 min. Brilliant 35mm print, e-subtitles in Finnish by Pirjo Brech. Viewed at Orion, Helsinki, 31 March. SYBERBERG: "The film is in the form of a long, shared closing monologue, overlaid by projections and sound documents. The narrator (André Heller) reflects on Hitler's life, and the formulation of his ideas: Hitler, heir to the Hapsburg Emperors and the Holy Roman Empire, the personification of Germany, defeated by foreign ideas of democracy and republicanism; the strength of belief, the triumph subjugated by alien ideas of representation. Hitler as Siegfried, in a world beset by enemies, a man who had set down in advance all his plans, for everyone to read, but which nobody took seriously. Hitler as catharsis of European history; or melting pot and medium for the spirit of his age, merely a mirror of our own dreams and passions.
The second narrator (Harry Baer) takes up the monologue. The Hitler dummy lies nearby. He examines the models that served as inspiration for Hitler: Rome; Britain; the idea of racial purity, of a chosen people, which he took from the Jews, who had waited 2000 years for the regaining of their lost Jerusalem.
The Mayor of Berchtesgaden announces the opening of a Hitler museum at which thousands of tourists are expected, just as they flock to Ludwig II's castles. The mayor performs a suggestive dance with the director of tourism. They protest their political innocence and declare their aim to be merely the development of tourism and entertainment. They maintain that business is the freedom of democracy, and Hitler is the greatest star in show business. Quality is determined democratically at the box office. Together they walk through the new park, pause at a long flight of steps and break out in a hymn at the sight of the shop window models of the Nazi past.
The first narrator returns. He describes how Hitler and Speer had planned a victory celebration for 1950 in Berlin, how it will now be realized in our modern version of our Disneyland, the final victory of hell, with the Hitler in us.
Again we see the little girl draped in black. She wanders through a row of gallows. We hear the last report from the German armed forces. Projections of Speer's architecture appear, and the charred corpse of Goebbels. The little girl takes the toy dog in her hand, drags it behind her on the ground as she walks away. She passes between photo-figures of the 1920s, beneath the hanging body of Goebbels.
The narration draws to its close. There follows a description of a great victory celebration which is attended by Hitler and his associates displaying their death wounds. All the persecuted, the crippled, dead, Nazis and their families, hangers-on, appear at this celebration in an endless procession.
The narrator accuses the Hitler dummy of being responsible for the trivialization of the old German values. Hitler as the bane of the Western world, destroyer of our language, was responsible for the victory of materialism and the spiritual diaspora, in which the Germans ceased to exist. In the quest for his paradise, another was lost.
In the end everything will collapse into the black hole of the future. The young girl stands, eyes closed, still holding the Hitler dog. A deep split appears in the landscape of the beginning, from which a tear hangs; in the tear sits the child. The stars fly towards us, and amidst it all appears the symbol of the Grail, the silence of Melancholy." (BFI Catalogue for the Edinburgh Film Festival 1992)
http://www.syberberg.de
Admirable audacity in tackling a subject often defined as beyond understanding. For example, Ron Rosenbaum in his excellent book, Explaining Hitler comes to the conclusion that Hitler cannot be explained. In strictly rational terms this may be true. Which is why it is essential to take a wider perspective and examine the mythology which inspired Hitler and his followers.
Syberberg takes the Wagner in Hitler seriously.
And the Karl May in Hitler.
And the Spear of Longinus / the Grail myth of imperial power.
He understands the awe towards Jews behind Hitler's persecution of Jews.
The Jewish source beyond the Grail.
All this may be a bit too much of historians of the "wie es eigentlich geschehen" tradition with a strict adherence to written documents. Hitler avoided written documents whenever possible, and destroyed existing documents whenever possible.
The sound documents are well selected. Among the most memorable is the record of the transmission of German soldiers in Stalingrad, the North Sea, etc. singing "Silent Night, Holy Night" in a direct radio transmission at Christmas.
The long descriptions of Hitler's everyday life help understand how it really happened.
Syberberg also takes the cinema enthusiasm of Hitler seriously.
Hitler was a film-maker of Germany, who wanted to become a film-maker of the world.
"I was a prophet, and you laughed at me, but who's laughing now?" (He meant the Jews.)
Hitler made of Germany a film in his own image. Syberberg answers by making a film of Hitler, simultaneously a reflection on the history of cinema starting from Edison's Black Maria. As essential as Godard's Histoire(s) du cinéma.