Goebbels-Experiment, Das (2005)

Director:

Lutz Hachmeister

Writers:

Lutz Hachmeister (writer)
Michael Kloft (writer)

Release Date:

13 April 2005 (Germany)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography

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:

WWII | Paul Joseph Goebbels | Nazi | Propaganda | Media Manipulation

Cast

Kenneth Branagh	...	Narrator (voice)
Heinrich Brüning	...	Himself (archive footage)
Wilhelm Frick	...	Himself (archive footage)
Josef Goebbels	...	Himself (archive footage)
Magda Goebbels	...	Herself (archive footage)
Hermann Göring	...	Himself (archive footage)
Heinrich Himmler	...	Himself (archive footage)
Adolf Hitler	...	Himself (archive footage)
Alfred Hugenberg	...	Himself (archive footage)
Udo Samel	...	Narrator (voice)

Directed by
Lutz Hachmeister

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Lutz Hachmeister		writer
Michael Kloft		writer

Produced by
Nick Fraser	....	executive producer
Sharon Grimberg	....	series producer
Lutz Hachmeister	....	producer
Thorsten Pollfuss	....	executive producer
Mark Samels	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Hubert Bittman

Cinematography by
Hajo Schomerus		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Susan Bellows
David Espar
Guido Krajewski
Günther van Endert

Production Management
James E. Dunford	....	series manager
Glenn Fukushima	....	post-production manager
Daniela Geneikis	....	production manager
Malika Rabahallah	....	production manager
Carla Schild-Kreindl	....	post-production manager
Greg Shea	....	post-production manager
Katrin Steuder	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Christian Wagner	....	assistant director

Art Department
Allison Kennedy	....	series designer

Sound Department
Tilo Busch	....	sound mixer
Marcello Busso	....	sound recordist
Rainer Gerlach	....	sound recordist
Kevin Granahan	....	sound recordist
John Jenkins	....	sound mixer
Hans Schumann	....	trailer sound designer
Daniel Weis	....	sound designer

Camera and Electrical Department
Oliver Bungert	....	grip
Marco Disturini	....	grip
Nikole Erksmeier	....	assistant camera
Arnd Geißheimer	....	assistant camera
Sascha Kaiser	....	assistant camera
Antje Neumann	....	lighting technician
Karim Rahmani	....	assistant camera
Thomas Schäfer	....	steadicam operator

Editorial Department
Spencer Gentry	....	on-line editor
Mark Steele	....	on-line editor

Music Department
Mark Adler	....	composer: theme music

Other crew
Keith Bartlett	....	translator
Bill Brummel	....	assistant researcher
Maria Daniels	....	news director
Federica D'Urso	....	voice
Nancy Farrell	....	series project administrator
Jay Fialkov	....	legal
Vanni Gandolfo	....	voice
Pamela Gaudiano	....	project administrator
Frank Gensthaler	....	researcher
Mary Fran Gilbert	....	translator
Sherene Ing	....	project administrator
Ravi Jain	....	series project administrator
Maureen Jordan	....	legal
Neil Kreppel	....	assistant researcher
Arno Krüger	....	assistant researcher
Francesca Leita	....	voice
Susan Mottau	....	production coordinator
Daphne B. Noyes	....	publicist
Sonali Patel	....	series project administrator
Lauren Prestileo	....	publicist
Christian Remiger	....	title designer
Vanessa Ruiz	....	project administrator
Anja Siebertz	....	assistant researcher
Rebekah Suggs	....	project administrator
Susan Trabucchi	....	marketing director
John Van Hagen	....	business manager
Mathias von der Heide	....	researcher

Distributors

• Cinema Delicatessen (2006) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• First Run Features (2005) (USA) (theatrical)

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 Olympia 1. Teil - Fest der Völker (1938)

Interesting but uneven in what it depicts

This is a very interesting and surprisingly engaging film. Branagh reads excerpts from Goebbels' diary or translations of speeches while the film shows newsreel footage, scenes from propaganda films, and bits from theatrical movies. Sometimes the visual footage illustrates Goebbels's words; sometimes it provides an ironic juxtaposition. I have one important reservation. There is no real attempt to include even coverage of events during the period. Quite a few subjects are simply not mentioned. For example, there is no discussion of the German's defeat at Stalingrad, which must have been a gigantic problem for Goebbels as Propaganda Minister. Even more striking, there is very little discussion of Nazi treatment of the Jews. The film includes some early anti-Semitic quotations and a little footage of Kristallnacht, but nothing that I can recall about the Holocaust itself. Perhaps Goebbels' diaries don't include entries about these subjects, but the omission is striking.