I couldn't watch this all the way through, so these comments apply only to the first half hour or so.
There is no quarrel with the general facts surrounding the childhood and adulthood of Hitler and Stalin, who get about equal treatment. We know where they were born, who their parents were, what their interests were like, their experiences in the war, and so forth. We can find those objective facts anywhere among the many documentaries dealing with each figure.
But, in addition to the narration, there are a number of talking heads who don't know what they're talking about. As a psychologist, I was surprised that the History Channel would allow such pompous speculation to ruin what is otherwise a decent documentary.
It's pretty bad. The Heads would have to reach for "pop psychology" until their joints creaked. They don't even use vernacular terms like "paranoia" or "Napoleonic complex." Instead, Stalin is described as having an "enemy complex." And of course they were both beaten by their fathers -- just as you and I were.
I don't object to these interpretations because they're not professional. I object to them because they're simple-minded and misleading. The narrator and biographers might as well attribute Stalin's and Hitler's personalities to some yet undiscovered flaw in their DNA, because there's no evidence for that either.
There are some perceptive documentaries available on both figures, and some respectable books. This is just not a reliable source.
There is no quarrel with the general facts surrounding the childhood and adulthood of Hitler and Stalin, who get about equal treatment. We know where they were born, who their parents were, what their interests were like, their experiences in the war, and so forth. We can find those objective facts anywhere among the many documentaries dealing with each figure.
But, in addition to the narration, there are a number of talking heads who don't know what they're talking about. As a psychologist, I was surprised that the History Channel would allow such pompous speculation to ruin what is otherwise a decent documentary.
It's pretty bad. The Heads would have to reach for "pop psychology" until their joints creaked. They don't even use vernacular terms like "paranoia" or "Napoleonic complex." Instead, Stalin is described as having an "enemy complex." And of course they were both beaten by their fathers -- just as you and I were.
I don't object to these interpretations because they're not professional. I object to them because they're simple-minded and misleading. The narrator and biographers might as well attribute Stalin's and Hitler's personalities to some yet undiscovered flaw in their DNA, because there's no evidence for that either.
There are some perceptive documentaries available on both figures, and some respectable books. This is just not a reliable source.