Outside Perspective: A Look At “Secret Stories of Hitler” by William S.

    I very much enjoy watching documentaries on subjects I find interesting.  One of my favorite subjects is (and remains) history.  So, when I found out Mills Creek Entertainment released a collection of documentaries entitled “Secret Stories of Hitler”, I was intrigued.  Now, hopefully this goes without saying, Adolf Hitler was a monster.  That being said, World War 2 is one of the wars I find most compelling.  I was interested to see what this set had to offer.

    So, I decided to focus my attention on the documentary “Swastika” because I had heard that it was controversial so I guess I figured that would be a good place to start.  The movie isn’t like most documentaries I have seen before and I definitely understood why it was considered controversial.  The movie shows home footage of Hitler shot by Eva Braun and is intermixed with propaganda footage depicting Hitler in an almost heroic light.  It’s hard to stomach at times and I think that was the point of the documentary.  It wanted to show even a monster can hide successfully among us if we turn a blind eye to anything that doesn’t directly effect us.

    Unlike most other documentaries from acclaimed filmmakers like Michael Moore or Morgan Spurlock, this documentary is unique in the fact that the director doesn’t inject his feelings or emotions into the project.  Instead, he shows footage of Germany and Adolf Hitler as they were.  There is no injecting humor or insight into a subject so tragic.  For the this reason however, I can definitely see the controversial nature of the film.

    The film wants us to learn from the past so we don’t continue making the same mistakes.  I do feel like a slightly more direct message might have connected with audiences better, including myself, but I understand what director Philippe Mora was trying to do as well.

    Out of respect to individuals who might not see the intent of the documentary, I will not grade it.  Instead I will say that I did find it interesting and history buffs who can divorce their feelings from the footage will find it an interesting watch.

*Article written by William S. and edited by Jeffrey S.

Buy “Secret Stories of Hitler” on DVD Here!!!