This is a remarkable film. It consists of Kenneth Branaugh reading Goebbels' diary. The video is mostly original Nazi footage of the relevant events. Again and again I was astounded that they could find matching video. Sometimes it consists of Goebbels addressing crowds in German with subtitles. The quality of the film is superb, both in black and white and colour. It often so good I wondered if I were watching a recreation. I wish they were clear about this. Sometimes there is modern day colour footage of places Goebbels mentions.
There is no commentary. You are seeing the world purely through the eyes of a peevish, vain little bigot. One thing that became clear from all the footage, the Nazis did not push their brutality on the Germans, millions of German enthusiastically welcomed it, ditto the war, ditto the pogroms. Goebbels committed suicide, and also killed his four young children. These quite adorable kids feature prominently in the film. It is quite a shock to see their corpses.
I always assumed that propagandists in war lied and claimed the war was going well no matter what. Goebbels, to my surprise, argued for telling the truth. Hearing the propaganda was just too insulting for the troops. Goebbels had delusions of grandeur. He seemed to think his propaganda movies were more important that armaments in deciding the outcome of a war.
The Nazis were even better than the Americans at getting people whipped up with enthusiasm for an unjust war. Everyone is familiar with the mandatory heil Hitler salute, which reinforced subjection to Hitler and made clear everyone else was giving obeisance. Hitler responded with a languorous over the shoulder salute. When orating, Goebbels would just start shaking his finger as if chastising an unusually naughty child, but he would keep going without a pause for minutes at a time with a very fast cadence. I suspect the intent was to trigger primal fear of parental disapproval. Sometimes he would just shake his hand the same way. He also did some motions that were languid, a bit like magician gestures. Perhaps these were for riveting attention.
The movie needs a clock to let you know the year being talked about and the major events that have just happened. Goebbels has quite a different idea of what is important from most of us, and leaves out huge events. This makes it hard to fit what you are watching into a bigger context.
There is no commentary. You are seeing the world purely through the eyes of a peevish, vain little bigot. One thing that became clear from all the footage, the Nazis did not push their brutality on the Germans, millions of German enthusiastically welcomed it, ditto the war, ditto the pogroms. Goebbels committed suicide, and also killed his four young children. These quite adorable kids feature prominently in the film. It is quite a shock to see their corpses.
I always assumed that propagandists in war lied and claimed the war was going well no matter what. Goebbels, to my surprise, argued for telling the truth. Hearing the propaganda was just too insulting for the troops. Goebbels had delusions of grandeur. He seemed to think his propaganda movies were more important that armaments in deciding the outcome of a war.
The Nazis were even better than the Americans at getting people whipped up with enthusiasm for an unjust war. Everyone is familiar with the mandatory heil Hitler salute, which reinforced subjection to Hitler and made clear everyone else was giving obeisance. Hitler responded with a languorous over the shoulder salute. When orating, Goebbels would just start shaking his finger as if chastising an unusually naughty child, but he would keep going without a pause for minutes at a time with a very fast cadence. I suspect the intent was to trigger primal fear of parental disapproval. Sometimes he would just shake his hand the same way. He also did some motions that were languid, a bit like magician gestures. Perhaps these were for riveting attention.
The movie needs a clock to let you know the year being talked about and the major events that have just happened. Goebbels has quite a different idea of what is important from most of us, and leaves out huge events. This makes it hard to fit what you are watching into a bigger context.