Hitler is the most adored and hated man of the 20th century. The title of the film is based on the main thesis of the ideology of National Socialism - "Hitler is Germany", incredibly embodies the mechanism of identification with the Leader, derived by Freud. However, it is worth mentioning right away - you should not look for the features inherent in the feature film in the film Hitler, a film from Germany. This is an avant-garde theatrical action, something like a large-scale, magnificently decorated performance with improvised means, attracting the viewer as a full-fledged participant, to which, moreover, has a seven-hour timekeeping. This style corresponds to the philosophy of Nazism, in every public speech and party event, which introduced an operetical sweep, stylistic delights that repeat at a deeply symbolic level the national cultural traditions of the Germans, quoting Thomas Mann, “the only people who own both the depth of content and form.”
In the anamnesis of the spirit of times, which held together around the core of Hitler’s personality, a nation of “composers and philosophers”, it is easy to find the quintessence of the characteristic features of human perception of the previous century. And music, of course, conquers philosophy, the spirit, triumphing over reason, reveals the efficiency of thought in the face of the deepest crisis, subordinating all its resources to the desire for destruction. Disillusioned with their ideals, the Germans of the last strength and for some 6 years (plus another 6 war), took on the guise of the last utopia of the Faustian culture, setting out to turn back time and stop the decline of Europe. Like communism, the concept of National Socialism was then seen as an alternative to the buying and selling society, as a giant bazaar inhabited by Nietzsche's "last men."
And the filmmakers invite us to consider the phenomenon of Nazism as an act of suicide of the cultural tradition of previous centuries, predetermining the paths that will follow. Reason never keeps up with the spirit, and Nazism, to quote Spengler, always relied on romantic exaltation. And these feelings cherished youthful ideals, dissonant with the rapidly changing, even at the pace of time, world. Nazism declared war on modernist art and psychoanalysis, denying base human instincts. He elevated to the rank of an absolute cult the ancient ideas about the aesthetics of forms that preserve the indestructible core of the spirit, which elevates man to super-existence. On the site where the Buchenwald concentration camp was built, the Nazis left an oak tree under which Goethe wrote several poems 150 years ago. Knut Hamsun, even having a personal conversation with Hitler, after the war was branded as a Nazi, and they agreed only on the love of nature. The thinking of that time allowed for the existence of colossians, individuals, and the scale of collective consciousness. The embodiment of this idea can be called the legendary castle of Ludwig of Bavaria. The grandiose texture of the castle is embedded in the ridges of the Alps, as if opening a portal to the endless inspiration of nature. And through the operas of King Wagner’s favorite, based on the archetypal subjects of mythology, this vital energy became public, elevating itself above terror and thereby justifying it. The very personality of Ludwig, completely divorced from the reality of the dreamer, is extremely characteristic. Absorbed by disproportionate existential realities of illusions, he nevertheless, with the methodical sequence of reason, embodied them in matter, following the impulses of the spirit, step by step, brick by brick.
The conceptual struggle for their dreams to their last breath through the “faith that moves mountains” became a fix idea for Hitler. The Nietzsche Bible also justifies murder for higher ends, and a closed, self-absorbed Germany, represented by its leader, hoped to erect an ideal of global proportions, meaning only itself. In May 1945, Hitler said that even if the war was lost, the sacrifices would not be in vain. And indeed, since then, National Socialism has been seen through the prism of history. The filmmakers recall the persecution of Eisenstein in the USSR, the humiliating conditions of the Hayes Code, which destroyed Stroheim and the genocide of Indians, on the basis of which American society safely exists. It was in Germany that the power of cultural context in shaping public attitudes was first realized. At the same time, Leni Riefenstahl’s films, unlike Hollywood or Soviet propaganda crafts of that time, became a revolution in the film process, having received the undisputed status of artistic masterpieces.
Goebbels' film apparatus produced a huge number of paintings, among which only a small part had propaganda overtones. The Nazis understood the man of the crowd and knew that he enjoyed the most - rest and entertainment. They immediately began to dispose of people through benefits, ease of passage through the career ladder, benefits. The Puritan Hoovero-Heizovskaya America at that time had much to learn from Goebbels, synchronized with Hitler’s aggressive foreign policy methods. And many Nazi scientists, who achieved success in the field of biological experiments and the creation of weapons, successfully continued their career in the United States, having passed the halls of the Nuremberg trials.
Nevertheless, the main contribution of Nazi Germany to world history remains the creation of a point of no return, in which, like a black hole, art, culture and higher spheres found their refuge, in which the thoughts of the great so longed, neglecting the personal comfort of the representative of the masses. According to the filmmakers, these features of National Socialism determined the ultimate triumph of the consumer society, which held an association between great art and death. Hitler won because he left nothing behind, taking into oblivion the image of a superman capable of making great art. Having laid the foundations of the consumer society, he destroyed the last remnants of the Faustian culture. The road for the outsider, the last man, the "most despicable man," is free. And we can observe everywhere the traces of the “herd in which all are equal” in a sterile, boneless culture, the spots of which are similar to each other, like blots of protoplasm. Regardless of formal affiliation, we are always dealing with a product that is impersonal, one-dimensional, emasculated and secure, equivalent to a currency—the post-Hitler man’s measuring system of greatness.
Among the images killed by Hitler, this great comedian, the creators even found the corpse of the Eternal Jew - after all, in Israel, which suddenly found territory, the new Kafkas and Muzili did not find their home. Instead, in this autonomous colony, like the counterpart of Miami, inhabited, as is known, by old people, practically thinking inhabitants are drawn from countries where it was cold to live. “We have found our happiness,” they say, and blink. And their company is tied in anachronistic traditions, lost ground underfoot, interpreters of the Talmud, still trying to comprehend the personality of Hitler, preserving his legacy for years as a psychotrauma. Art at this time is absent for absolute necessity. This is the dawn after the sunset of the gods.
Hitler won. More precisely, his chthonic predestination won. But what about Hitler the man? Hitler was obsessed with movies and watched three films a day before the war. It turns out that his caps were mocked in society. His personal valet unsuccessfully waged a war with the tastelessness of the Fuehrer - he did not want to wear socks to the color of shoes and pants to the color of the kitten. Hitler's valet always had exactly 25 seconds to tie the butterfly, otherwise the scene would follow. From the great to the ridiculous, there is always one step, and to understand the great, one must by an effort of imagination walk this road back.