The Empty Mirror is an astonishingly peculiar movie. The photography and art direction -- all of the production values, all the technical credits, in fact -- are professionally accomplished and wonderfully lush. By comparison, the film's pedantry is agonizing.
The film viewer is subjected to an infuriating and unrelentingly steady stream of pronouncements by Hitler and his cohorts, unchallenged and unanswered by the filmmaker. This movie is artistically, ethically, and intellectually dishonest. For the writer/director to have re-crafted Hitler, the historical figure, as a penitent, as a man who, in his final moments, gains self realization, and who expresses remorse and anguish for the horror he has created. The director's agenda is he wants us to forgive Hitler. But that is not for us to do -- neither our job, nor our right. Rather, it is for us -- those who were not persecuted by Hitler -- to try to understand why and how Hitler was able to do what he did and how it was he was able to impel nations -- Germany, Austria, Hungary, France, Romania, Ukraine, etc. -- to do his evil work. It is for the murder victims -- and God -- to forgive Hitler; we present day humans have no standing in this special court.
Finally, it is historically incorrect and ethically dishonest to suggest Hitler was remorseful at his end. By all accounts from the bunker, before he blew his brains out, he went out of this world cursing the Jews for his plight.
The director has assembled a hodgepodge of speculative psychohistory, mostly discredited by serious scholars, certainly obscure, dense, and fragmented. See this movie for it's production values -- especially if you are a fan of the great cinematographer Frederick Elmes, ASC. Alas, there is no insight to be found in this hopelessly muddled and manipulative mishmash of a movie.
The film viewer is subjected to an infuriating and unrelentingly steady stream of pronouncements by Hitler and his cohorts, unchallenged and unanswered by the filmmaker. This movie is artistically, ethically, and intellectually dishonest. For the writer/director to have re-crafted Hitler, the historical figure, as a penitent, as a man who, in his final moments, gains self realization, and who expresses remorse and anguish for the horror he has created. The director's agenda is he wants us to forgive Hitler. But that is not for us to do -- neither our job, nor our right. Rather, it is for us -- those who were not persecuted by Hitler -- to try to understand why and how Hitler was able to do what he did and how it was he was able to impel nations -- Germany, Austria, Hungary, France, Romania, Ukraine, etc. -- to do his evil work. It is for the murder victims -- and God -- to forgive Hitler; we present day humans have no standing in this special court.
Finally, it is historically incorrect and ethically dishonest to suggest Hitler was remorseful at his end. By all accounts from the bunker, before he blew his brains out, he went out of this world cursing the Jews for his plight.
The director has assembled a hodgepodge of speculative psychohistory, mostly discredited by serious scholars, certainly obscure, dense, and fragmented. See this movie for it's production values -- especially if you are a fan of the great cinematographer Frederick Elmes, ASC. Alas, there is no insight to be found in this hopelessly muddled and manipulative mishmash of a movie.