Das Goebbels-Experiment (2005)

Director:

Lutz Hachmeister

Writers:

Lutz Hachmeister (writer)
Michael Kloft (writer)

Release Date:

13 April 2005 (Germany)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography | History | War

Plot:

The Nazi propaganda mastermind behind Hitler speaks in first person as actor Kenneth Branagh reads pages of the diary kept by the chief of propaganda...

Plot Keywords:

Nazi | Propaganda | Diary | Speech | Archive Footage

Cast

Udo Samel	...	Narrator (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kenneth Branagh	...	Narrator (voice: English version)
Heinrich Brüning	...	Himself (archive footage)
Winston Churchill	...	Himself (archive footage)
Engelbert Dollfuss	...	Himself (archive footage)
Wilhelm Frick	...	Himself (archive footage)
Josef Goebbels	...	Himself (archive footage)
Magda Goebbels	...	Herself (archive footage)
Hermann Göring	...	Himself (archive footage)
Veit Harlan	...	Himself (archive footage)
Rudolf Hess	...	Himself (archive footage)
Heinrich Himmler	...	Himself (archive footage)
Adolf Hitler	...	Himself (archive footage)
Alfred Hugenberg	...	Himself (archive footage)
Joe Louis	...	Himself (archive footage)
Benito Mussolini	...	Himself (archive footage)
Augustine Alfred Joseph Paul-Boncour	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Joseph Paul-Boncour)
Leni Riefenstahl	...	Herself (archive footage)
Theodore Roosevelt	...	Himself (archive footage)
Heinz Rühmann	...	Himself (archive footage)
Max Schmeling	...	Himself (archive footage)
Franz Seldte	...	Himself (archive footage)
John Allsebrook Simon	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Sir John Simon)
Franz von Epp	...	Himself (archive footage)
Paul von Hindenburg	...	Himself (archive footage)
Franz von Papen	...	Himself (archive footage)

Also Known As:

The Goebbles Experiment (USA)

Runtime:

Germany:108 min

Country:

Germany | UK

Language:

German | English

Color:

Color | Black and White

Certification:

Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Bavaria, Germany

Movie Connections:

Features Ohm Krüger (1941)

An important film

Everyone once in a while a film comes along that people need to see. This is especially true concerning events of global consequence, Nazi Germany most specifically. And while films such as Schindler's List are invaluable in personalizing the tragedy of millions, they are emotionally based, as they should be. But what "The Goebbels Experiment" does is that it makes us think about why and how one man (and so many others) could come to bring about and participate in atrocities. The film doesn't talk much about the nature of the propaganda itself -- it's not a legit documentary about Goebbels, but a strict series of readings from his diaries -- but to hear Goebbels talking, we can hear echoes of the terrible propagandists that have brought about so much disaster in the years since. There is much to be learned from this film, particularly in seeing up close what could make a human being into a monster. It happens easier and more often than you'd think, and this film, while sometimes a bit dull and one-dimensional, does accomplish that purpose. You don't have to be an expert on World War II or Nazi Germany to appreciate the film, but it does help provide contextual understanding. I think this is a worthwhile film along the lines of any film about the Third Reich; the lessons must be learned, and the intervening years have proved just how much we have failed to learn them.