donjunio

DeRank ™: 7,00

DeAge™ : 7456 days • Here since 11 january 2006

Oliver Hirschbiegel La Caduta

18 mar 07

Voto:

I don't know exactly how many prisoners the Germans took at viasma-bransk: surely the Soviets, caught in the grip of the Wehrmacht, lost something like 1300 tanks, a success so overwhelming that it deluded the Führer, convinced that the Russians would not recover .....kudos to your dad for his experience and memory, and above all for coming back in one piece....for books regarding the Reich, I recommend Daniel Goldhagen's "Hitler's Willing Executioners," controversial and perhaps a bit exaggerated, but certainly indispensable for understanding certain internal dynamics within Germany in the mechanisms of support for the Führer, especially in the context of the Holocaust.

Oliver Hirschbiegel La Caduta

18 mar 07

Voto:

There is a difference between statesman and political stature. Statesman, a word you mentioned, is someone who looks ahead for the good of their Nation. Bismarck, Cavour, or Roosevelt, certainly not Hitler, who had his own idea of Germany, as a fanatic who barely understood the price of the books he skimmed through on Nietzsche. Political stature is much more simply that gift that allows the political animal to sense the wind, capture demagogic impulses, and use them for their own purposes. Even the episode you mention of Versailles, with the Jews being used as scapegoats instead of the French, was functional to his design, in this case perfectly clear. Regarding the issue of the dulled intellect, I meant to say that it was the circumstances that made him such, due to his inability to read reality, further ruined by the mistakes he had made.

Oliver Hirschbiegel La Caduta

18 mar 07

Voto:

Well, there is no animosity, bubi; on the contrary, it is certainly healthy to discuss these things. That the Austrian dwarf made a ton of mistakes during the war is established, although I recall that if the Germans hadn't had to postpone Operation Barbarossa against the USSR by a month to remedy Mussolini's disasters in Greece (which left the Axis exposed on the Balkan flank), it is likely that even General Winter wouldn't have been able to stop the Wehrmacht before Moscow, and in that case, there would have been – alas – no doubts about the outcome of the conflict. Putting aside these tedious war aspects, what I care about is not to forget the cunning with which Hitler seized power and the way he meticulously conceived the Shoah and all the other horrors, because fundamentally that is what remains in our consciences, as Phidias reminded us: precisely so as not to forget. Best regards!

Martin Scorsese Toro Scatenato

17 mar 07

Voto:

let the votes speak

Oliver Hirschbiegel La Caduta

17 mar 07

Voto:

Yes, I perfectly understood what you wanted to say: it’s obvious that during the war the errors of the chain of command (thankfully, of course) and the whims of an old man who had become senile took over, but the Hitler who came to power (legally and democratically elected), the Hitler who in the 30s held the diplomacy of all of Europe in check, the Hitler who until ’41 had the world in his grasp should not certainly be underestimated with a simple “idiot,” that’s all. Bye!

The Band Music from Big Pink

17 mar 07

Voto:

Thank you again to everyone, especially to oceansize for reminding us of an important detail and to massimof, the ultimate connoisseur of Americana on debaser!

Oliver Hirschbiegel La Caduta

17 mar 07

Voto:

Well, darling, it's obvious that Hitler was not Bismarck: one was a demagogue, ignorant and crude. The other, a Prussian nobleman, cultured and sharp, who, once he achieved the unification of Germany, wisely decided to create a balance of powers capable of enhancing German hegemony without shedding blood or unleashing further wars, but based on a perfect diplomatic equilibrium (broken by Wilhelm II when he dismissed Bismarck, laying the groundwork for the First World War). However, to call Hitler a fool seems truly reductive and misleading: reading "Mein Kampf," it is clear that Adolf had a diabolical vision, not in a Machiavellian sense but in a populist one, and the right intelligence and unscrupulousness to understand that the post-Versailles political context and the resulting, terrifying economic recession could favor the implementation of such a crazy plan. Defining him merely as a fool seems decidedly trivializing, if not dangerous.

Oliver Hirschbiegel La Caduta

17 mar 07

Voto:

I really liked the film; the criticisms regarding Hitler's supposed humanity are ridiculous. This is the tragedy not so much of a man, but of a people who gave humanity Kant, Beethoven, Hölderlin, and other geniuses, and ended up creating Auschwitz. This film is nothing but yet another courageous examination of conscience that the Germans have undertaken. Others should follow their example. Well done, Fidia, as always.