La cantate de Hitler

An unexpected and welcome treatment of an interesting constellation of acquaintances during WWII. At first the overdone make-up, washed out appearance and overly dramatic acting leave the viewer in doubt as to the caliber work, but after 10 minutes of hanging in there, an intriguing story unfolds with some very convincing acting and scenery. The characters become increasingly more human, and their lines and connections develop into unusually veritable ones. The camera-work is clever and aesthetic, framing the lives of Ursula, Ernest, Gottlieb, Gisela, and Fritz. Ursula, a Nazi-brainwashed girlfriend of an SS officer, wants to compose the Hitler Cantate based on Third Reich regulations, but ends up helping Ernest out, not as Komponistin, but as Assistentin. This is the germ of the film which grows into an intricate story. It winds like ivy, tieing in the doeppelganger, the photographer, the Jewish opera singer and the SS General. There are some great lines in it as well. Hopefully this movie will be in English soon, as it is well worth seeing and quite convincing (with the exception of the moonlight scene on the see and the hokey MTV-like Hitler film).