If this movie is just a biography of Adolf Hilter, why does the movie has to come up with such a title? Was Adolf Hitler indeed evil? Or was the movie just an exaggeration of the personality of this infamous leader?
Hence, if you watched this movie for the first time without having much background about Adolf Hitler like I do, you would indeed agree that Hitler is an epitome of "pure evilness". You may only see Hitler as megalomaniac, lunatic, pedophile, and all sorts of bad words you can attach to his name. If the movie's sole intention was to emphasize on the evilness that Adolf Hitler beholds, then we can say that it was successful in portraying Hitler that way. But what made him so powerful did not just come out of pure evilness. There is something deeper than what the movie portrayed Hitler.
And as I read an online movie review (Pop Matters) about Hitler: The Rise of Evil, it dawned to me that the movie was flawed in such a way that it changed some of the real life story of Hitler just to pursue their agenda of describing Hitler like a demon who is trapped in a human's body.
The author of the article did not say that Hitler was good nor did he reject the idea that Hitler was an embodiment of evil. Instead, he enumerated and explained some of the inaccuracies that the film portrayed with regard to the life story of Hitler. One of which is the childhood story of Adolf wherein the film depicted him as the suspect of his father in the incident of his slaughtered farm animals. Because of this, Hitler was shown to be in deep anger towards his father and that his looks gave his father the heart attack and died. However, in reality, Adolf's father died in a local bar after drinking a glass of wine.Also, in many of the biographies written about Hitler, none of these would say that he engaged in animal cruelty.
Another inaccurate detail, and maybe one important aspect in the political discourse of Hitler was the movie's portrayal that Hitler became popular only because of his anti-Semitic speeches. However, the truth behind Adolf's popularity is due to the fact that he delved into more pressing issues than just what the movie portrayed. Adolf discussed in his oratory the severe economic distress and political discontent that the people of Germany has been experiencing that time. Adolf was able to express his ideas in order to reestablish Germany and instill the national pride among its citizens. Through this, the people deeply admired him and supported his advocacy towards building a "new Germany". But then again, we cannot say that what he did after gaining total control over Germany was ideally good or even brought a better life for Germany.
I was glad I was able to come across the article which made think again about the events on the life story of Adolf Hitler. It gave me a different perspective about Hitler instead of just solely relying to the movie which just mostly presented him as a lunatic, brutal and an evil person. By now, I've realized that Hitler was indeed a talented leader who had so much potential in him. Unfortunately, he used it in a wrong way. For him, his beliefs and his practices justify what he wants to stand up for. But the way he did it was just totally out of control. And once an individual gets out of control, you do certain things that are not considered moral anymore. In the case of Adolf Hitler, his greed for power got him out of control in such a way that he absolutely needed to get what he wanted. I wouldn't doubt that if only Hitler was able to use his talent and potential in a good way, he would've been one of those leaders who would be remembered for his greatness. A new title for the movie would instead be Hitler: The Rise of a Great Leader.
But what strikes me the most in the movie is the quote of Edmund Burke :"The only thing necessary for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing." It is true that the people surrounding Adolf Hitler acted too late before they realized that Hitler was dangerous. But what could be more ironic in featuring the quote is that even though some individuals who fought against Hitler (such as the journalist in the movie) could not win because Hitler had already killed them before they become powerful. Indeed, goodness could not prevail if evilness overshadows it. It wouldn't just take a few individuals to tear down evil but would need a myriad of people to fight for goodness to prevail.
Connecting this to our time today, it is a challenge for us to act right away and be responsible for the actions of other people. We should not let ourselves ignore those people (especially those who have the power) to do certain things that would affect us in some ways because if we would not "care" about those things, it might be too late for us to alter the things that other people have already done. We should also not tolerate our "walang pakialam" attitude towards other because who knows what other people can do that we might regret in the end. Through this, we can avoid history repeating itself.
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