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The Empty Mirror

  • 1996
  • PG-13
  • 1h 58m
IMDb RATING
5.7/10
370
YOUR RATING
Norman Rodway in The Empty Mirror (1996)
DramaHistoryWar

Adolf Hitler faces himself and must come to terms with his infamous career in an imaginary post-war subterranean bunker where he reviews historical films, dictates his memoirs and encounters... Read allAdolf Hitler faces himself and must come to terms with his infamous career in an imaginary post-war subterranean bunker where he reviews historical films, dictates his memoirs and encounters Eva Braun, Josef Göbbels, Hermann Göring, and Sigmund Freud.Adolf Hitler faces himself and must come to terms with his infamous career in an imaginary post-war subterranean bunker where he reviews historical films, dictates his memoirs and encounters Eva Braun, Josef Göbbels, Hermann Göring, and Sigmund Freud.

  • Director
    • Barry J. Hershey
  • Writers
    • R. Buckingham
    • Barry J. Hershey
  • Stars
    • Norman Rodway
    • Camilla Søeberg
    • Peter Michael Goetz
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    5.7/10
    370
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Barry J. Hershey
    • Writers
      • R. Buckingham
      • Barry J. Hershey
    • Stars
      • Norman Rodway
      • Camilla Søeberg
      • Peter Michael Goetz
    • 28User reviews
    • 10Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 7 wins & 1 nomination total

    Photos20

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    Top cast45

    Edit
    Norman Rodway
    Norman Rodway
    • Adolf Hitler
    Camilla Søeberg
    Camilla Søeberg
    • Eva Braun
    Peter Michael Goetz
    Peter Michael Goetz
    • Sigmund Freud
    Doug McKeon
    Doug McKeon
    • The Typist
    Glenn Shadix
    Glenn Shadix
    • Hermann Goering
    Joel Grey
    Joel Grey
    • Josef Goebbels
    Hope Allen
    Hope Allen
    • Woman in Black
    Lorri Scott
    • Floating Female Spirit
    Raul Kobrinsky
    • Jailer
    Randy Zielinski
    • Hitler Youth
    Shannon Yowell
    • Hitler Youth
    Courtney Dale
    Courtney Dale
    • Hitler Youth
    Elizabeth Hershey
    • Hitler Youth
    Chris Levitus
    • Hitler Youth
    • (as Christopher Levitus)
    Chip Marks
    • Hitler Youth
    Enzo Pace
    • Hitler Youth
    Heather Rogers
    • Hitler Youth
    Sarah Benoit
    Sarah Benoit
    • White nurse
    • Director
      • Barry J. Hershey
    • Writers
      • R. Buckingham
      • Barry J. Hershey
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews28

    5.7370
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    Featured reviews

    regturais

    A

    A superficial pass over The Empty Mirror will lead to superficial conclusions. I saw this several years ago at an American Cinematheque screening in Los Angles. The director (himself Jewish) tried to take a look at Hitler as a man, unsullied by the gross oversimplifications that typically underscore such material.

    Most people feel a need to discard Hitler as merely "insane" and "evil" because it conveniently avoids the stickiness of trying to develop an understanding of his psychology. Most other material about Hitler and the Third Reich may try to offer honest insights, but more often then not devolve at some point into oblique moral condemnation "All you REALLY need to know is that they were all very NAUGHTY/BAD/EVIL." They don't trust you to be intelligent and reach your own conclusions.

    The Empty Mirror takes a reasonably unclouded look - the majority of Hitler's lines are taken directly from _Mein Kampf_ and his interaction with other significant figures of the era provide us with insight (conjectured but believable) into his thought processes, motives, and rationalizations.

    The movie occurs in a surreal, dripping dark stone bunker which the camera never seems to quite capture the dimensions of. It's more of a "dream" state than actual location as the rooms change, occupants shift, uniforms taken on and off.

    See the movie yourself. The director is for once not insulting our abilities and is providing an opportunity to reach our own conclusions. Swallow your distaste for the subject for an hour and a half and try to objectively form your own opinion.

    Remember that this is the last movie hitler would ever want anyone to see - one that demystifies the "Fuhrer-myth" by showing him to NOT necessarily be a 2-dimensional cartoon hellbeast, but alas, merely a man.
    7supershaman

    Why Do We Still Care...

    For a relatively young, post-war Boomer like myself, this spellbinding movie poses a question which is more fascinating than Hitler himself ever was. Out here in ultra-liberal California, why do we still pay any attention to this guy? He died in the Bunker in Berlin on April 30, 1945, five years before I was even born.

    Over the years, I've seen multiple object lessons on the benefits of tolerance and the sheer self-destructiveness of intolerance. I've seen everything improve from my love-life to my job prospects, as I have become more tolerant, more "easy-going" over the years.

    Maybe it's because World War Two is one of the cases in which good really did vanquish evil.

    On the other hand, maybe there is something mesmerizing about mental pathology, or at least the type that this neurotic SOB had. This guy was no BS-ing Spiro Agnew, no sobbing Jimmy Swaggart, he was the "real deal", a man who truly did the devil's work. And yet, who coolly maintained a distance between his person and the "Final Solution to the Jewish Problem". An animal-loving, sentimental vegetarian who loved bloody war. A raging maniac who revelled in his own anger, but who never himself killed anyone in civilian life. An adherent of "physical culture" who was sallow-skinned and infected with syphilis. A charismatic figure who spent his private life in an odd sort of solitude. A man who lived for a "glorious" past, but whose operatives created jet airplanes, robot bombs and the first ballistic missile, majorly contributing to the Twentieth Century which he so detested.

    Yeah, sometimes pathological men are entertaining. And this movie tells us something about him and a great more about ourselves. Research on the Third Reich itself can become a form of conquest.
    6MykNobody

    Good writing but mediocre casting

    The Empty Mirror is like a stage production, almost entirely a monologue. It is Adolph Hitler's fictitious self-examination (interrupted by a detached Sigmund Freud to give his objective analysis). I really enjoyed the writing and performances. The production is a bit cheap, but for what it is, it still works. My main complaint is the casting of Norman Rodway as Adolph Hitler. He portrays the insanity of Hitler with painfully acute skill. But, his long face and British accent breaks the illusion, taking the audience out of the story, and I feel he was just a poor choice for the part of such a well-known historical figure. The Roles of Goering, Goebbels, and Freud on the other hand were cast very well, with excellent performances.

    The story illuminates the power of illusions and how someone could delude themselves into believing almost anything. It humanizes Hitler a bit, examining how he destroyed himself in his lust for power, and how the same thing could happen again.
    wetteniram

    Just watched this GEM of a movie

    As I am reading some of the reviews, I begin to realize that this masterpiece is not for the unsophisticated who draws a blank at symbolism. It also would not hurt to have read some of the more comprehensive works on the subject such as J. Toland's `Hitler' to understand the making and the pathologies of this sometimes gentle monster. There are so many outstanding moments in this film. Like when Hitler tallies up the murdered Jews and comes up slightly short of six mio., then trivializes it by claiming the other side is always embellishing. The illuminated part where he stands in the light beam of his projector directing Handel's Messiah. Yes, he is the creator! The phallic symbol of shattered mirror he holds up. Yes, there was a problem with potency. Finally his jailer becoming himself. And his last act to immerse into the tunnel and into the light, cleverly staged through the light beam of the projector. Frustratingly clawing entry into the projection. No, he is not permitted entry. His pained face shows utter torment and eventually takes on the image of a distorted mask against a black background. Norman Rodway as Hitler did a fantastic and believable portrayal of Hitler. No, he is not the spitting image of the egomaniac, but remember looks can be deceiving!
    joshr-4

    Just The Same As You & I

    Maybe the point in de-demonizing Hitler was to make us understand that he was not so special & extra-ordinary that we don't have to be careful that he doesn't ever happen again. People seem to almost always simply do what they think is the right thing to do at any given time. Even Hitler. Maybe our seeing him as an ordinary guy who went a long monstrous way would help us prevent big lies, holocausts, invasions, death camps & secret police --& keeping silent in the face of them -- from ever again seeming quite so much like the right thing to do at the time as it did in Germany in the 1930s.

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    Related interests

    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
    Liam Neeson in La Liste de Schindler (1993)
    History
    Frères d'armes (2001)
    War

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Goofs
      When Hitler wears his uniform with the brown coat and white shirt he wears a black tie. The real Hitler, when wearing this uniform, would wear a brown tie with a tie pin of an eagle astride a swastika.
    • Quotes

      [first lines]

      Adolf Hitler: Before us lies Germany, within us marches Germany, and after us comes Germany!

    • Connections
      Edited into A. Hitler (2010)

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 29, 1999 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official site
      • official site
    • Language
      • English
    • Production company
      • Walden Woods Film Company Ltd.
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $4,688
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $4,688
      • May 9, 1999
    • Gross worldwide
      • $4,688
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 58m(118 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Stereo

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