Stars: Robert Carlyle, Jena Malone, Stockard Channing, Julianna Margulies, Matthew Modine, Peter O'Toole, Peter O'Toole, Peter Stormare, Liev Schreiber

Director: Christian Duguay

Summary: The story of the life of Adolf Hitler, from his early childhood to his emergence as ruler of Germany in 1934.

Robert Carlyle stars as the German dictator and leads an all-star cast in this made for TV drama that explores Adolf Hitler's rise to power in prewar Germany during the 1930s.

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Starring Robert Carlyle as the Nazi dictator, Hitler: The Rise of Evilis a lavish made-for-TV two-parter that traces Adolf Hitler's early life, including his boyhood in Austria and impoverished period as a struggling artist in Vienna, culminating in 1934, by which time he had assumed the chancellorship of Germany. We bear witness to the rhetoric, ruthlessness and obsessive determination that propelled him to power, despite the best efforts of opponents like Matthew Modine's campaigning journalist. His inadequate but despotic relationships with women, such as his tragic half-niece Geli Raubal, are also examined.

Carlyle fares very well in what is traditionally considered the invidious task of bringing Hitler to dramatic life, conveying him plausibly as an impenetrably evil man, complex but irredeemable. However, this drama fails to explain just how and why such a pathetic, psychotic, unattractive individual such as Hitler could make such an immediate, profound impression on, for example, Ernst Hanfstangl and his wife Nina (ER's Julianne Margulies). Disproportionate attention is paid to Hitler's relationship to this American-born couple, perhaps as a sop to US audiences. In contrast, the social, cultural and political context of inter-war Germany is skimpily depicted here, making Hitler's ascendancy seem almost absurd.

On the DVD: Hitler: The Rise of Evilis, as you would expect, a decent transfer from the TV original, but there are no additional features. --David Stubbs

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Year:	2003
Release Date:	October 20, 2003
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	M P 282 D
Keywords:	Hitler, Evil, General, Rise, Drama
Genre:	Drama