Moloch (1999)

In 1942, in Bavaria, Eva Braun is alone, when Adolf Hitler arrives with Dr. Josef Goebbels and his wife Magda Goebbels and Martin Bormann to spend a couple of days without talking politics.

Director:

Aleksandr Sokurov

Writers:

Yuriy Arabov, Marina Koreneva (dialogue writer)

Stars:

Elena Rufanova, Eva Mattes, Leonid Mozgovoy

7 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Elena Rufanova	...	Eva Braun
Eva Mattes	...	Eva Braun (voice)
Leonid Mozgovoy	...	Adolf Hitler
Peter Fitz	...	Adolf Hitler (voice)
Irina Sokolova	...	Dr. Josef Goebbels (as Leonid Sokol)
Gerd Wameling	...	Dr. Josef Goebbels (voice)
Yelena Spiridonova	...	Magda Goebbels
Maud Ackermann	...	Magda Goebbels (voice)
Vladimir Bogdanov	...	Martin Bormann
Udo Kroschwald	...	Martin Bormann (voice)
Anatoliy Shvederskiy	...	Priest
Friedrich W. Bauschulte	...	Priest (voice)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Franco Moscon	...	Nazi Officer
Natalya Nikulenko
Rosina Tsidulko

Storyline

In 1942, in Bavaria, Eva Braun is alone, when Adolf Hitler arrives with Dr. Josef Goebbels and his wife Magda Goebbels and Martin Bormann to spend a couple of days without talking politics.

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Plot Keywords:

german | reference to adolf hitler | world war two | ode to joy | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Directed by Russian filmmaker Aleksandr Sokurov, the film is the first in Sokurov's tetralogy of power. It was succeeded by Taurus (2001), about V.I. Lenin, The Sun (2005), involving Japanese emperor Hirohito, and Faust (2011), based on the old German legend Faust. For production, Aleksandr Sokurov employed Russian actors from Saint Petersburg to shoot the film, but their voices were later dubbed by German theater actors from Berlin.

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Connections

Featured in Cinemania: I anodos kai i ptosi tou Nazismou (2008)

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Soundtracks

1st Movement from EINE KLEINE NACHATMUSIK
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

User Reviews

Pretty interesting

Yes, it would be easy to criticize Molokh for being slow, and for having Russian actors mouthing German words that aren't natural to them, but I found this film to be fascinating through most of its length (and if Tarkovsky had made it, it would have been TWICE as long).

What we see is Hitler and his inner circle being jovial and vicious by turns, along with loopy discussions of racial characteristics (Czech men have droopy mustaches, indicating moral turpitude; the Finns are rendered mentally unfit owing to cold weather, etc.) There is a lot of backstabbing going on between Bormann and Goebbels; pity that Goering isn't in the film--we would have benefitted even more from his cynicism. All of this has the ring of truth--I recently read Speer's memoirs, Inside the Third Reich, which has detailed accounts of these lunch and dinner talk-fests.

Yelena Rufanova is not convincing as Eva Braun--too slavic looking--but Leonid Mozgovoy with his dumpy body is great as Hitler. The hypochondria, the refusal of middle-class pleasures--no slippers!--the insane political musings: it's all here. Leonid Sokol is Goebbels, absolutely. The rat face on a dwarf's body, the desperate ridicule of Bormann whom he knows is cutting him down: this is fine acting.

Sokurov adopts Leni Riefenstahl's style to tell a Wagnerian story of grandeur and collapse.

Details

Country:

Russia Germany Japan Italy France

Language:

German

Release Date:

13 October 1999 (France)

Also Known As:

Moloch

Filming Locations:

Obersalzberg, Berchtesgaden, Bavaria, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

ARTE, Fabrica, Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg (FBB)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1