Christian Duguay
Hitler: The Rise of Evil

One of the main reasons for friction between me and my usual conversation partners, when discussing cinema, is my lack of great passion for what is considered one of the masterpieces of cinematic art, namely 'The Godfather' by Francis Ford Coppola.

Objectively speaking, it's a fundamental film that made history in dramatic and noir cinema. 'The Godfather' won three Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay), five Golden Globes; it's one of the most influential cinematic works of all time; the character of Vito Corleone is practically perfect, and Marlon Brando's performance is magnificent. Not to mention Al Pacino and the rest of the cast, which is practically stellar: from James Caan to Robert Duvall, to the unforgettable John Cazale...

I mean, we're certainly talking about a masterpiece, on this point I have no argument, but that doesn't mean I include it among my favorite films.

One possible reason is that I have seen the film so many times that in the end, I no longer feel like rewatching it.

However, this also applies to other films that I still consider masterpieces and continue to rank among my favorites.

It should be noted that, in general, I don't rewatch the same films.

Moreover, not having a television, I don't leave my potential viewing of a cinematic work to 'chance' or simply to TV programming, but to targeted choices and the consequent search for the right channel to watch the film via streaming.

So the reason regarding 'The Godfather' is fundamentally another.

That is, it's a more than valid dramatic work, but, according to my taste and even considering that I'm generally interested in films that deal with gangsters and 'underworld', it's too fictionalized.

It's not a matter of pacing; I certainly don't expect to see an action film in every case, and I'm very flexible in terms of cinematic taste; I practically appreciate every genre (if we exclude superhero movies, which I generally don't like, except for the rare exceptions that always exist), but I don't like the film's atmospheres, the deeply detailed way it outlines the family and psychological dynamics of the various subjects.

They simply do not have my appreciation.

I mean, we're ultimately talking about a family of mobsters. Yet, this fact seems to pass completely into the background, becoming almost irrelevant and taking a backseat to the psychology of the characters and their individual stories. As if these could develop independently of their roles.

There is no condemnation from the director towards these characters. After all, it is not in his interest at all: he tells the story as if he were narrating a classic dramatic work, for example, 'The Betrothed' by Alessandro Manzoni.

This doesn't deprive 'The Godfather' of its tremendous dignity and authority as a cinematic work in an absolute sense, naturally, and clearly, this is just my point of view, which, as such, I realize might well not be shared and might even cause discussions and disputes among the vast audience of great admirers of Francis Ford Coppola's film and the entire trilogy.

'Hitler: The Rise of Evil' (translated into Italian as 'Il giovane Hitler') is a film or a two-part TV miniseries to which I attribute the same characteristics as 'The Godfather' as a type of cinematic work, and this even though apparently the two genres should be far apart, as in this case (the director is Christian Duguay) it is a historical film.

'The Rise of Evil', a joint United States and Canada production, focuses on the story of Adolf Hilter, played by British actor Robert Carlyle, from his childhood up until practically the seizure of power after what is known as the 'Night of the Long Knives', during which the new Chancellor purged all the leaders of the SA, including his historical friend and ally Ernst Rohm; until the moment when, following the death of President Hindenburg, he incorporated the office of President into his role of Chancellor, effectively making himself the Führer of the Third Reich.

The film begins its narrative in young Adolf's childhood in Austria and his troubled relationship with his father Alois, a man of rough and violent ways who had married his niece, Adolf's mother, a humble, submissive woman who timidly tries to counter her husband in encouraging their son's passion for art.

Once grown, Adolf moves to Vienna in search of fortune, where he tries to establish himself as an artist, but to his great frustration, finds all roads blocked.

According to the story told in this film and historical reconstructions, it corresponds to this period the birth of his hatred towards Jews, seen as those who hold economic and financial power, and against communists and particularly social democrats, whom Adolf often identifies as one category. They are the ones who hold power and are preventing the Germanic people (primarily at this stage himself) from fully expressing their values.

In this regard, it must be said that Vienna, at that time, was the true capital of the Western world, a real melting pot of cultures from all over Europe, and where young Adolf, who from a very young age seemed loaded with anger, would end up crushed in his smallness, ardently desiring revenge.

He subsequently takes part in the First World War, where he earns the 'Iron Cross' and promotion to corporal; he is then admitted to a military hospital after temporarily being blinded by a mustard gas attack.

It is here, with great anger and frustration, that he learns of Germany's unconditional surrender and the Treaty of Versailles, and according to the film, it's here that Adolf Hitler decides that he would become the protagonist of Germany's resurgence on the world stage.

The rest of the story is mostly known: Hitler takes part in some sessions of the German Workers' Party as a police informant, but instead quickly becomes its leader by virtue of his great abilities as an orator.

His political rise, also supported by German business groups and in particular by entrepreneur Ernst Hanfstaengl (Liev Schreiber), is unstoppable, and after also obtaining, with financial support, the 'activist' support of the SA squads, led by Ernst Rohm, he will attempt a coup in 1923, the famous 'Beer Hall Putsch', after whose failure he will be imprisoned.

During his detention, he dedicates himself to writing 'Mein Kampf' and once released, after a period of retreat in the countryside, returns actively to politics until obtaining first the office of Chancellor of the Reich and, as said, subsequent absolute power, incorporating into his figure also the office of President.

The reconstruction of these latter passages is quite accurate, as are all the phases that will lead Adolf Hitler from being a mere war veteran of the First World War to Führer of the Third Reich, but the film particularly dwells on certain aspects that we cannot consider exactly 'historical', because although part of Adolf Hitler's lived history, they largely concern his personal sphere rather than the political and military one.

Among these are his relationships with Ernst Hanfstaengl and Ernst Rohm, with Joseph Goebbels, initially his rival who reaches the point of wanting to challenge him for the leadership of the party and later becomes his right-hand man until the end as his propaganda minister.

Adolf Hitler's relationships with what are considered to be the three women of his life are carefully treated: Helene Hanfstaengl, the wife of his friend and 'patron' Ernst, who will save him from suicide at the time of his arrest after the failed Putsch; his niece Geli, the daughter of his stepsister Angela, and whom he suffocates with his violent and obsessive behavior, driving her to suicide (although the circumstances have never been fully clarified, some argue she was killed, possibly by Hitler himself); then with Eva Braun, to whom he directed the same violence and obsessive behavior that characterized his relationship with Geli, and the companion who will stand by him until his death and whom he will marry on the last day of his life.

In a film that certainly can be pleasantly watched (after all, it is a two-episode miniseries, each 90 minutes long) Hitler is mostly described for his character traits and behavior in private life, a somewhat 'unprecedented' point of view for a film about the character, which perhaps constitutes both the richness of the work and its limit.

Nevertheless, it must be said that there is no lack of reconstructions of his political career and the emphasis on the point that he was above all a politician and a kind of 'strategist' more than a true military man (which indeed will eventually lead to the break with Ernst Rohm and the SA), where the use of violence and military inspiration are means to achieve consensus as much as propaganda and his oratory skills.

Particularly appreciated is the reference to a little-remembered historical figure, namely journalist Fritz Michael Gerlich, played in the film by Matthew Modine, whose profile and personal stories, such as his relationship with his wife Sophie, are extensively described and explored.

Gerlich was one of the most authoritative and convincing representatives of the German anti-Nazi resistance in the 1930s.

Of Christian-liberal orientation, he was one of the first, as director of Bavaria's main newspaper, the Münchner Neueste Nachrichten, to focus on Adolf Hitler's rise and highlight its dangers. He was immediately one of his main critics and opponents, which soon led to his dismissal from his position.

However, he would continue his work to the end, when in 1933, after Hitler took power, he was arrested by Ernst Rohm's SA and imprisoned in the Dachau concentration camp, where he was shot a year later.

It is not a masterpiece, but it treats the figure of Adolf Hitler and the events in an unprecedented way, certainly fictionalized and at times perhaps even naively (for example, when explaining how he came to choose the mustache and swastika as his recognition signs) and addresses in some way events that are themselves 'unprecedented' compared to other films about the character, and this beyond whatever judgment or appreciation one may have on the matter, is one of the reasons that makes it undoubtedly interesting.