In the movie we viewed last class, the director a number of interesting devices to address the issues at play with Hitler's last days. I like that he juxtaposed Hitler's madness, especially when referring to military forces that either didn't exist or were hopelessly outnumbered, with his kindness towards the civilians. The director ensured that the military forces behaved like the beaten dogs that they were, but that the civilians demonstrated true love and adoration. The military, who actually were fighting in the streets of Berlin, literally saw the madness. The civilians, who simply caught hell from the madness, did until. Only when a civilian would see the physical results of the war would they understand the madness. Hitler, who stayed in his bunker and only left to see a carefully constructed image of heroism, remained clueless. Eva Braun was more deluded, as she threw a party in the midst of German soldiers dying just a few yards away. Only when the majesty of the party is shattered by an artillery strike does the party end.
The secretary, however, evolves through the film. She develops from a scared girl meeting Hitler for the first time into a girl who is more frightened for her life than anything or anyone else. The director examines this evolution by focusing on her actions and reactions to the things happening around her. During the party, she gets ill and vomits when seeing the madness of what was happening around her. She tries to feed Himler's children, knowing that they are about to be killed by their mother.
The camera does not cut away from the horrors experienced during the final days of Germany's war. The demonstration here is to let the audience see what was going on as Hitler and his followers saw their Reich collapsing around them. The wedding between Hitler and Eva is sterile and loveless; there is little more emotion than is felt during a simple business transaction. Their brief funeral is much more emotionally charged, as the bodies are set aflame.
What was truly terrifying was the act of infanticide Mrs. Himler perpetrates against her children. She does not want them to live in a world without a Nazi party, but she is a mother who does not want to see her children suffer. In her mind, as in the mind of the viewer, there is a sense of compassion and tenderness as she poisons each child and covers them with a blanket. The children die with a slight gasp, but no pain. It kills her to do this, as the director demonstrates, but she undertakes it with Germanic efficiency. She barely can speak to her husband in the moments before Himler shoots her. There is no madness in her action, and the director conveys this horrible event in such a way that the viewer can almost, but not quite, understand why this is happening.
The secretary, however, evolves through the film. She develops from a scared girl meeting Hitler for the first time into a girl who is more frightened for her life than anything or anyone else. The director examines this evolution by focusing on her actions and reactions to the things happening around her. During the party, she gets ill and vomits when seeing the madness of what was happening around her. She tries to feed Himler's children, knowing that they are about to be killed by their mother.
The camera does not cut away from the horrors experienced during the final days of Germany's war. The demonstration here is to let the audience see what was going on as Hitler and his followers saw their Reich collapsing around them. The wedding between Hitler and Eva is sterile and loveless; there is little more emotion than is felt during a simple business transaction. Their brief funeral is much more emotionally charged, as the bodies are set aflame.
What was truly terrifying was the act of infanticide Mrs. Himler perpetrates against her children. She does not want them to live in a world without a Nazi party, but she is a mother who does not want to see her children suffer. In her mind, as in the mind of the viewer, there is a sense of compassion and tenderness as she poisons each child and covers them with a blanket. The children die with a slight gasp, but no pain. It kills her to do this, as the director demonstrates, but she undertakes it with Germanic efficiency. She barely can speak to her husband in the moments before Himler shoots her. There is no madness in her action, and the director conveys this horrible event in such a way that the viewer can almost, but not quite, understand why this is happening.
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