You could call it "The Prince of Darkness Diaries." Documentarian Lutz Hachmeister uses journals to form a chilling and often illuminating portrait of Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.
Hachmeister's film has nearly continuous narration of the diaries that Goebbels kept between 1924 and 1945, illustrated by archive footage. Goebbels committed suicide in 1945 at age 47.
In effect, Goebbels tells his own story in "The Goebbels Experiment." The narrative device is akin to Lauren Lazin's technique in her stunning 2003 documentary, "Tupac: Resurrection," which was more powerful because it had, through recorded interviews, Tupac's actual voice.
The man charged with reading from Goebbels' diary excerpts is Kenneth Branagh. It's an assignment the actor could have easily coasted through, but he gives a genuine performance, reading with maniacal conviction, instead of detached irony. Though he never appears onscreen, Branagh fully inhabits the mind of Goebbels, crafting a character where it would have been easier to resort to caricature. He absorbs Goebbels' wisdom and tenderness, as well as his neuroses and flamboyant madness.
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What emerges is an intimate look at the rise and fall of the Third Reich through the eyes of the pretentious, driven figure in charge of Nazi propaganda.
Goebbels' writing reveals he was a man of intense passion and violent mood swings. We witness his transformation from an idealistic, self-doubting student to a delusional fanatic drunk with power. He speaks as a man dogmatically devoted to the ideals of his party, which he prioritizes even above his family. Goebbels offers political analysis of the gradual Nazi takeover of the government, glowing with elation as Adolf Hitler rises to power and sets the war machine in motion.
Grandiose and self-reverent, Goebbels reserves some of his brightest praise for himself, gushing about how eloquent a public speaker he believed himself to be; praising his ability to manipulate the public thought through leaflets, films and broadcasts. More than once, Goebbels essays on the importance of the role of propaganda in the government, stamping out the free press and emphasizing style over substance. His reverberations that the Jewish people are a menace that must be removed are the closest he comes to acknowledging the Final Solution.
Goebbels was a petty individual, making note of perceived slights and plotting unrealized revenges. He speaks worshipfully of Hitler, revealing a penetrating adoration edges close to sexual territory, only occasionally stepping back to offer a minute criticism. He speaks negatively of Hitler's other henchmen, especially filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, whom he sees as a rival.
The film's implicit conclusion is that Goebbels seems to have been an intelligent man who allowed his ambitions to carry him off the deep end. His mind was a tunnel of destructive obsession, and the tragedy of his existence was that his society gave him the power to spread that destruction throughout the globe.
review
The Goebbels Experiment
***
Rated: Not rated
Narrator: Kenneth Branagh
Director: Lutz Hachmeister
Family call: A little stiff; it's a film best suited for World War II obsessives.
Running time: 107 minutes
Et cetera: In English and German, with English subtitles
Opens Friday at: The Loft
