Hitler: The Rise of Evil (2003)

Poorly written at best

I saw this when it first came on CBS. Such an excellent cast, excellent setting, yet the dialogue and overall portrayal of Hitler were poor at best. It is as though the good writers were off that week. I recommend "Downfall" or "Conspiracy" for a portrayal of Nazi politics, not this. This film had so much potential to be good and it was utterly ruined. August 29, 2008

Anti-Nazi Propaganda is still Propaganda

This mini-series film is utterly single-minded in its absolute certainty that Hitler could not have possibly been a normal person with any redeeming qualities whatsoever. From the very start, the child playing Hitler has such a wicked, sinister sneer on his face that you doubt a mother could even love it. From the start, he's always angry, always heartless, always abusive, and incapable of anything but anger. Even the death of his mother he snarkily says it's HER fault for dying.

From a personal viewpoint, Hitler lives his public persona, but to an infinitely more pathetic single-minded degree; he rambles on and on about Jews, communists, and everything else like an anti-semitic zealot, with no pause in any aspect of his personal life to his public persona. I cannot vouch for his personal views, or his views on the Jews in private, but a recently discovered historical audio clip shows that the private Hitler was not much like the public Hitler---he had good things to say about the communists, and the Soviet war machine. You'd not likely hear this Hitler say ANYTHING good about anyone but his own servants.

Somehow the film makes Hitler so vehemently anti-Jewish while simultaneously giving him more good Jewish influences than bad---there's the Jewish doctor who helped his mother during her cancer (he could potentially blame her for it, but still a positive Jew in his life), the Jewish soldier fighting alongside him in the front lines, the Jewish captain who despite being given orders not to, pushes to have Hitler awarded an Iron Cross.

The film also goes out of the way to include as many shots of Adolf Hitler coming close to death, as if to harangue the viewer endlessly with instances of "OOH IF ONLY SHE'D LET HIM KILL HIMSELF", "OOH IF ONLY HE'D STAYED IN THE TRENCH WHEN IT WAS SHELLED", "OOH DAMMIT IF ONLY HE WERE A FEW STEPS AHEAD AND GOT SHOT IN THE HEAD!" instances, which I believe is an insult to the memory of the man who caused so much suffering in the world. Maybe the idea of Hitler dying before the chance of controlling Germany is a positive one to some people to fantasize about, but for me, it simply doesn't work... I feel as though it insults the victims of the Holocaust and the War.

Another annoying instance is that whenever Adolf Hitler's full name is mentioned by someone, blatantly sinister and evil sounding music plays in the background. Sometimes it isn't played, but it's a very frequent occurrence.


On the positive side, Robert Carlyle, on Hitler's public persona, is absolutely flawless. He perfectly encapsulates Hitler's voice, translating it in english without any loss in power, encapsulates his hand and arm motions, and the power of his speaking. Even though the movie makes no distinction between a private Hitler and a public Hitler, Carlyle fits into the role fluidly, the way of a great actor. If the filmmakers had decided to take an unbiased route, I imagine Carlyle could have done far better, perhaps award winning, in portraying the violent, passionate public Hitler, and a more sinister, secluded, Caesarian private Hitler.

Instead, the Hitler in this film, when he steps off the podium, becomes a pathetic, sad little man, ranting and raving worse than a lunatic, with whom I believe absolutely no one would dare listen to or follow. The movie craps on the person of Hitler so thoroughly, I couldn't even imagine how Germany could rally behind him---he's nothing but a rabblerouser here, and unless every single person who worked with him behind the scenes were as bats*** insane and stupid as he is in this movie, I don't see how Robert Carlyle's Adolf Hitler could have ever risen to power.

And that, perhaps, is the greatest insult of all. August 19, 2008

Well made for a "Made-For-TV" Film

Good overall review of Hitler and his rise to power.... This movie has more on the DVD version than on the original TV version.

One disappointing aspect is how this story strayed away from the SS and the occult... It also seems to blame Hitler's madness on childhood distress which in my opinion is some psycho-anlaytic humanistic trash that cant accept that man is inherently sinful...

Nonetheless, this is an extremely well casted and acted film, and is definitely worth a view... Overall they handled a controversial topic with respect. June 23, 2008

it is only by acknowledging Hitler's humanity that we may grasp the enormity of his crime

2 and 1/2 stars

Ironically, this miniseries is every bit as biased as the Nazi propaganda it denounces. The film relies heavily on cliched portrayals of "innocent Jews," "heroic journalists," and "evil Nazis," and in the process ends up sacrificing sophistication to enact a heavy-handed morality play. It goes without saying that the film neglected historical accuracy for the sake of painting Hitler as a demon in human guise, misrepresenting segments of Hitler's life to further its agenda.

This sort of thinking is quite silly. Though human monsters, such as Jeffrey Dahmer and Peter Kurten have existed, Hitler was not one of them. Historical research has shown that he had a number of redeeming qualities: he was a brave and good soldier and considerate to those who worked under him. Though this might make many people uncomfortable, it is only by acknowledging Hitler's humanity that we may grasp the enormity of his crime. To do otherwise is to blind ourselves to the cruelty latent (or suppressed) in us all and impair our ability to recognize it.

Unfortunately, the film's handling of as complex a character as Hitler is woefully simplistic and ultimately unrealistic. Even Robert Carlyle's tremendous performance at times fails to avoid the realm of caricature. That said, the actors did an excellent job with the screenplay given them and the film was still quite captivating in its intensity despite its historical inaccuracies.
May 22, 2008

lS ANYB0DY LlSTENING?!?!

This mini-series would've been better had they dealt with the subjects dealt with in the History Channel's documentary ''High Hitler''. Where they revealed that ''Uncle Dolfie'' had an addiction to pain pills which cotributed to a plethora of health problems like gas. Supposedly the Fuhrur farted like a buffalo. He also had battles with constipation and at times he had diarrhea that could polute the Rhein. April 10, 2008

More reviews at Amazon.com ...