Hitler: The Rise of Evil

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A Scene from Hitler: The Rise of Evil depicting the Beer Hall Putsch. From left to right in foreground: Ernst Hanfstaengl (Liev Schreiber), Adolf Hitler (Robert Carlyle), and Herman Goering (Chris Larkin). Behind Goering is Rudolf Hess (James Babsen).

Hitler: The Rise of Evil (2003) is a movie, produced by Alliance Atlantis, that explores Adolf Hitler's rise to power during the years prior to World War II and focuses closely on how the embittered, politically fragmented and economically buffeted German society after World War I made that ascent possible. The movie attempts to illustrate how Hitler's hatred of the Jews became central to his political mission in Germany and found a broad resonance among the German public. Also central to the plot is the influence that Ernst Hanfstaengl had on Hitler's rise.

The subplot of this film follows the struggles of Fritz Gerlich, a German journalist who opposes the rising National Socialist German Workers Party. He is portrayed in the role of a martyr to fulfill the essence of the quotation by Edmund Burke [1], which is displayed at the beginning and at the end of the film:

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

1 Criticism
2 Cast
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Criticism

This movie has been heavily criticised by historians and Hitler experts as portraying an anti-social, almost "autistic" Hitler who behaves contrary to what is known about the man. For example, Hitler, who loved animals, is shown beating a small dog in an early scene, which is a completely fictional and extremely unlikely event. Contrastingly, the German film Der Untergang has been commended for a very realistic and "human" portrayal of Adolf Hitler, unlike the usual "cartoon villain" of many other productions.