Screening in the Jewish International Film Festival in Australia, Führer and Seducer shines a light on the psychological and image- based propaganda machinery that was used like a jet- fuel for the Nazi party, and helped create a climate where the Holocaust was possible. Hitler’s right -hand man was the propagandist- in- chief Joseph Goebbels, who used lies, film, emotionally hooked speeches, and every other trick in the book, to effectively brain wash the German people, and allow Hitler’s terrible plans to go ahead with little resistance.
The film interweaves archival footage and survivor testimony into the drama, and a cold lens is held up to the men behind the madness, their intimate lives, their relationships, and their insecurities. Initially working to project a false image of peace, Goebbels was able to flick a switch and use propaganda to make war seem like a good idea, and then an absolute necessity, just as Hitler demanded. As Goebbels says in the film, “I will drive the audience crazy.”
The film received a mixed reception in Germany, where on screening it was accused of humanizing the proponents of the Nazi nightmare, but the team behind the film have clearly stated that their intention was to try to uncover how these kinds of mindsets and systems can take a hold of whole countries and populations, and prevent it happening again. Earlier in the process German funding had been denied to the filmmakers, as the authorities there struggle to find a way to handle portrayals of the past, and the team were forced to shoot in secret in Bratislava.
The director Joachim Lang has said that the film is highly topical in light of recent events. “Especially at a time when populists are on the rise worldwide,” he said, “when far-right parties are in leading positions in governments, when anti-Semitic acts of violence are increasing, and when the crimes of the Third Reich are being downplayed more and more. For me, the quote by Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi that begins and ends our film holds true: “It happened, and therefore it can happen again. That is the core of what we have to say.”
Written and Directed by Joachim A. Lang.
A Zeitsprung Pictures production, with co-production by SWR, Maya and ActHQ
Produced by Till Derenbach, Michael Souvignier
Executive Produced by Jan Novotný
Edited by Rainer Nigrelli
Winner – National Audience Award, Munich Film Festival 2024.
Screening in the Jewish International Film Festival in Australian cinemas
Starring Robert Stadlober as Joseph Goebbels, Fritz Karl as Adolf Hitler, Franziska Weisz as Magda Goebbels plus interviews with seven Holocaust Survivors including Margot Friedländer
Fantastically chilling performances are delivered by the cast, and the attention to detail of what is known of the leads foibles and physicality adds depth. We see Goebbels practising his terrifying speeches by screaming in the mirror, and Hitler staring seducingly into Goebbels’ wife Magda’s eyes. We also get a feel for what it is like in Berlin before the outbreak of war, with politically tense drinks parties and fearful glances between those out of Hitler’s favour, through the collective hysteria and worship of the Führer during the war, right up to the suicides in the bunkers as the Allies approach.
The film had a historical advisor, Thomas Weber, who is also a professor of history at Aberdeen Univeristy professor of history and an internationally-renowned academic. His books Hitler’s First War and Becoming Hitler: The Making of a Nazi, proved that historians had previously fallen for Hitler’s propaganda narrative about how he came to be the man he was. When he was asked about whether anything had changed in the way disinformation and manipulation are practiced today since the days of Joseph Goebbels’, he said, “The patterns of disinformation and manipulation have basically not changed since the deaths of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels in the rubble of Berlin, apart – and this is quite essential – from new technologies. These bring innovations, act as fire accelerants and explain why the danger posed by disinformation and manipulation is greater today than ever before. This danger will continue to grow exponentially through further technological innovation. Here, the handicraft of Joseph Goebbels unwittingly mixes with the technology from Silicon Valley. This can lead to a total meltdown.”
Weber, alongside a selection of scholars, policymakers, writers, curators, and film-makers, is currently leading an online course through Aberdeen University where students and guests can examine Hitler, his politicisation and radicalisation, and what his time in power can teach us about the nature of politics today.
When asked about how parents can teach their children media skills, to help them separate out the noise and understand who to trust, he said, “Ultimately, you have to learn repeatedly through experience. It’s about learning who to trust and where to be critical. If we blindly believe everyone, democracy dies. But if we no longer believe anyone and are cynical towards everyone, which is the second strategy of disinformation and manipulation, democracy also dies. When we learn to put a stop to the information warriors’ game, we reinforce pre-political values such as trust, moderation, tolerance, solidarity, empathy (including towards opponents), justice, patience, and a concept of freedom that is committed to the freedom of everyone and not just our own group. For years, we have been witnessing an erosion of these pre-political values which will destroy democracy and freedom.”
