IMDb RATING
6.7/10
738
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A documentary that uses a cache of letters, diaries and documents to reveal the life of SS-leader Heinrich Himmler.A documentary that uses a cache of letters, diaries and documents to reveal the life of SS-leader Heinrich Himmler.A documentary that uses a cache of letters, diaries and documents to reveal the life of SS-leader Heinrich Himmler.
- Awards
- 1 win & 2 nominations total
Sophie Rois
- Marga Himmler
- (voice)
Lotte Ledl
- Hedwig Potthast
- (voice)
Pauline Knof
- Anna Himmler
- (voice)
Rudolf Gorsleben
- Ariosophist
- (archive footage)
Hermann Göring
- Self
- (archive footage)
Gudrun Himmler
- Self
- (archive footage)
Heinrich Himmler
- Self
- (archive footage)
Margarethe Himmler
- Self
- (archive footage)
Adolf Hitler
- Self
- (archive footage)
Featured reviews
A documentary film combining letters and diary entries made by Heinrich Himmler and his family along with extraordinary archival footage involving most aspects of Himmler's life from his birth as well as concerning the rise of the Nazis in Germany from the 20s on through to the end of WWII. The letters and diaries were from a cache of materials discovered in Himmler's home by American soldiers at the end of the war. An amazing chronology made even more vivid by the recitation throughout of Himmler's actual words from his letters and diary entries, and enhanced even more by archival photography which I consider to be some of the best I've ever seen in films about the Holocaust or WWII.
In order to be really monstrous, evil people need good qualities. Being psychopathic will only get you so far. But,combine a psychopathic personality with a twisted moral compass, a functional but shallow intelligence, and the ability to work at a given task ceaselessly, and you have a Heinrich Himmler.
Himmler was a socially awkward young man. These days we would probably call him a nerd. Through his self studies, he converted to that hotch-potch of false science and false history, which later crystalised into Hitlerian Fascism.
He saw Germany as a once great country, which had become degenerate. He wanted to return to this mythic past, and, like Hitler, thought that progress required an increasing population, destroying populations to the East, and taking over their territory. He and Hitler made a diabolical double act.
The Nazis held themselves to be racially superior, and held that inferior races, while appearing human, were lower than animals because they had the capacity to corrupt higher races, both culturally and genetically. The lower races were like a disease which had to be eradicated. For a while, if they were useful, these peoples could be enslaved, but they would not be allowed to reproduce.
Himmler was an idealist, who wanted a better world for himself, his family, and his countrymen to live in. He was also a mass murderer with an evil ideology. That conflict is the subject of this excellent documentary.
Himmler was a socially awkward young man. These days we would probably call him a nerd. Through his self studies, he converted to that hotch-potch of false science and false history, which later crystalised into Hitlerian Fascism.
He saw Germany as a once great country, which had become degenerate. He wanted to return to this mythic past, and, like Hitler, thought that progress required an increasing population, destroying populations to the East, and taking over their territory. He and Hitler made a diabolical double act.
The Nazis held themselves to be racially superior, and held that inferior races, while appearing human, were lower than animals because they had the capacity to corrupt higher races, both culturally and genetically. The lower races were like a disease which had to be eradicated. For a while, if they were useful, these peoples could be enslaved, but they would not be allowed to reproduce.
Himmler was an idealist, who wanted a better world for himself, his family, and his countrymen to live in. He was also a mass murderer with an evil ideology. That conflict is the subject of this excellent documentary.
Der Anständige" (Himmer's private letters) is saddled with the unfortunately banal English release title of "The DECENT ONE" which will undoubtedly cause too many people to overlook it -- which is indeed unfortunate, because this film --fortunately caught at the Miskolc film festival in Hungary in September -- is definitely one of the more interesting documentaries to probe the background of top Nazi leaders and Holocaust perpetrators to come out in recent years. What this film does is is let Himmler, the most notorious Nazi of all next to Hitler himself -- speak for himself, through private letters sent to his wife throughout his unbelievably nefarious career. We therefore see an absolutely callous mass murderer as he saw himself -- which is to say as basically a warm hearted family man in love with a woman whom he eventually marries, but having to sacrifice his love in the name of duty -- a higher calling ...to exterminate all enemies of the Third Reich -- revealing his personal feelings to her in private letters at various stages of his insanely murderous career which is barely hinted at in the nebulous background lurking behind these letters. As Hanna Arendt pointed out in "The Banality of Evil" it is necessary to see that mass murderers like Himmler, Eichman, and company, did have private lives, and did not see themselves as evil bastards but rather as devoted men carrying out a lofty mission. Ugh. Shrug. Shudder. This remarkable documentary will evoke a different kind of revulsion in a new dimension. A must see for all having any interest in Naziism and Holocaust studies as well as, on a purely formal level, styles of documentation. Belgian~Israeli director Vanessa Lapa assembled this utterly amazing film from a cache of Himmler family letters that were "liberated" by advancing American troops at the end of the war and circulated for decades on a paper black market until winding up somehow in the hands of Vanessa's father in Israel -- but that is sordid story of its own.
"Der Anständige" is a film whose main idea is so insane that you wonder why it was made in the first place. Think about it--the film seems to be an attempt to humanize and show the 'nice-guy' side of Heinrich Himmler!!! Heck, as long as they were doing this, why didn't they do the same for Hitler. After all, he loved his dog!
Using Himmler's diaries and letters, the film shows a portrait of a monster who had a very human side. He had a wife and kids and worked hard to make something of himself. Sure, it was as the head of the SS and leader of the final solution...so I guess you gotta question why the film tried so hard to humanize him. But in addition to trying to do the impossible, the film also managed to be extremely dull and could have been much better had its goal been to show that evil can show a nice face on the surface. But instead, it almost seemed like an attempt to rehabilitate the memory of a man who is evil personified. Strange and impossible to enjoy or appreciate.
By the way, the American release of this was entitled "The Decent One"!!! Huh?!
Using Himmler's diaries and letters, the film shows a portrait of a monster who had a very human side. He had a wife and kids and worked hard to make something of himself. Sure, it was as the head of the SS and leader of the final solution...so I guess you gotta question why the film tried so hard to humanize him. But in addition to trying to do the impossible, the film also managed to be extremely dull and could have been much better had its goal been to show that evil can show a nice face on the surface. But instead, it almost seemed like an attempt to rehabilitate the memory of a man who is evil personified. Strange and impossible to enjoy or appreciate.
By the way, the American release of this was entitled "The Decent One"!!! Huh?!
Der Anständige is a curious film. The historical footage is interesting, but it is spliced together to support a rather obvious conclusion: Himmler was a Nazi. Does anyone disagree with that? Some reviewers see this as a banality of evil effort, but if you listen to Himmler's words, even in early childhood, you will discover that he was always a Nazi and an antisemite, from start to finish. So now we know, it wasn't a mistake. He really meant everything that he did. The end.
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Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $21,327
- Gross worldwide
- $35,282
- Runtime
- 1h 34m(94 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
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