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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRoger Ebert review of "Downfall" the last two paragraphs sound mighty familiar.
Admiration I did not feel. Sympathy I felt in the sense that I would feel it for a rabid dog, while accepting that it must be destroyed. I do not feel the film provides "a sufficient response to what Hitler actually did," because I feel no film can, and no response would be sufficient. All we can learn from a film like this is that millions of people can be led, and millions more killed, by madness leashed to racism and the barbaric instincts of tribalism.
What I also felt, however, was the reality of the Nazi sickness, which has been distanced and diluted by so many movies with so many Nazi villains that it has become more like a plot device than a reality. As we regard this broken and pathetic Hitler, we realize that he did not alone create the Third Reich, but was the focus for a spontaneous uprising by many of the German people, fueled by racism, xenophobia, grandiosity and fear. He was skilled in the ways he exploited that feeling, and surrounded himself by gifted strategists and propagandists, but he was not a great man, simply one armed by fate to unleash unimaginable evil. It is useful to reflect that racism, xenophobia, grandiosity and fear are still with us, and the defeat of one of their manifestations does not inoculate us against others.
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/downfall-2005
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,661 posts)It might be worth watching again as we witness another crazy racist autocrat decompensating in real time.
Upthevibe
(8,034 posts)The last two paragraphs of this review were chilling....
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,661 posts)I used to think comparing Trump to Hitler was a bit over the top, but not anymore. Hitler caused far more destruction, of course, but I don't doubt for a minute that Trump could give him a run for his money if he ever got the chance.
babylonsister
(171,051 posts)MFM008
(19,803 posts)Watch it! The actor playing Hitler just
Died this year i think.
His performance was amazing.