Posted on 05/20/2003 8:54:43 PM PDT by ConservativeMan55
I just finished watching the documentary on Hitler the Rise of Evil and had some thoughts I would like to share.
The first night was mainly about local politics and how Hitler used wheeling and dealing to get his way. He came to power through different deals made with other members of his and other parties.
The second night is when I began to notice the comparison of modern times. The movie could have been made by a liberal attempting to contrast to today's times.
The movie did portray Hitler as a fairly open minded man in the beginning who became less stable as he became more powerful.
Hitler was billed as a great speaker which led to his becoming the leader of the party. Hitler was also billed as a great artist and he created the Nazi sign.
He changed the name of the German World Workers Party to the Nazi party and used his design as the new flag.
Hitler then started using tactics which can be compared to modern day liberals. When his party could not get their way in the Reichstag (The Congress) they would walk out. Sound familiar?
Everyone in the Nazi party began wearing little Nazi pins and once Hitler dealed his way to become Chancellor he announced the suspension of all civil rights until the problem of "terrorism" could be taken care of.
Two points to make here. Hitler blamed the suspension of civil rights on "Jewish Communists" who were bent on terrorizing Germany. Hitler had the Reichstag burnt down in order to accomplish this. There were no real jewish terrorists in Germany at this time.
The second point I would like to make is that Hitler ordered everyone to start wearing the little Nazi pins. Most did not wear them because they wanted to, but because of Hitlers orders.
All in all I would say it was a good movie with some very interesting facts. Hitler was portrayed as crazy politically, but almost rational in his personal life even up until the end when the two started to mix and he became unbearable to deal with.
The movie did have a caption at the end about exactly how many people were killed. The movie ended with journalists who had written unfavorable about Hitler being sent to concentration camps. The beginning of the Holocaust was the end of the movie.
Another area of distortion, they said 1 million "gypies, homesexuals, Communists, Chrtistians.....etc" were murdered. The number of homosexuals murdered by most accounts was between 18,000 and 22,000, and most of these were Communists and other anti-Nazi intellectuals. The number is dwarfed the the Jewish and even gypsy figures, and is often lumped in with the others to exaggerate the "gays as victims" and "pink triangle" myth, when in fact homosexuals were an instrinsic part of the Nazis from the very beginning, and were far more perpetrators thatn victims. They even had a disgraceful exhibit at the Holocaust Museum which gave homosexuals special "recognition", despite the true facts of their limited suffering.
Not "possible"...factual. Hitler directly blamed the Communists. The term "Terrorist" was mentioned by Hitler twice in the film erroneously. The term was not coined until decades later. A very obvious dig at Bush (see my other comments also).
The numbers are a deliberate distortion. Homosexuals as a "group" were not a major victims of the Nazis, but were rather heavily represented in the early (and even later) leadership og the party. "Gay" propaganda.
That was no surprise to Hitler, and not the reason Ernst Rohm was murdered. Hitler was well aware that the vast majority of the S.A. ("brownshirts") were homosexuals. The "Night of the Long Knives" was a massive power reshuffling during which S.A. members, disloyal party members, and politicians including the Vice-Chancellor were murdered.
At first I was disappointed that Carlyle did not more closely resemble Hitler in appearance, but during the speeches, it was amazing to note how well Carlyle employed Hitler's posturing, body movements, gestures and demeanor. It was uncanny and evidently the result of a lot of study by the actor, no doubt using the newsreels we have all seen.
All in all, I found it to be an entertaining made-for-TV movie. I know that many liberties were taken in writing the teleplay but understanding that, I was able to enjoy the presentation.
At first I thought Robert Carlyle had been miscast. After watching him, I felt his performance was outstanding. He ought to win an emmy (but I doubt he will even get nominated).
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