Product Description

"Arguably the most gifted of Hitler’s henchmen, Joseph Goebbels was an enigmatic genius whose successful manipulation of mass political opinion was unprecedented. His rise to power, and that of the Nazi Party itself, will forever stand as one of history’s most terrifying examples of the reach of propaganda, a tool with which Goebbels’s name is virtually synonymous. In their fascinating documentary, the filmmakers provide a rare and chilling glimpse into a brilliant but toxic mind. Rejecting commentary, they allow Goebbels to speak for himself (in the voice of Kenneth Branagh), via the extensive diaries that he kept from 1924 to1945. Rare clips from German film and television archives illustrate the readings. At a time when much of our news and entertainment media is controlled by a handful of corporations, The Goebbels Experiment is a cautionary reminder that equal access to the machinery of ideas may be society’s most critical goal."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #51119 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-05-23
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, German
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 108 minutes

Amazon.com
The rise and fall of the Third Reich is chronicled on an intimately personal scale in The Goebbels Experiment, an essential addition to the vast legacy of Nazi-related documentaries. Like no other film before it, this remarkable experiment in archival biography combines two fascinating elements: rare and extensive archival footage and dramatic readings (by renowned British actor Kenneth Branagh) from the personal diaries that Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels kept from 1924 until his suicide in 1945. The net effect is unexpectedly striking: As Hitler's Nazi Party gained social and political momentum in the late 1920s and early '30s, Goebbels' daily life was so thoroughly covered by newsreel cameras, home movies, and Third Reich historians that there is enough existing footage of him to match (or at least approximate) nearly every event mentioned in his diaries.

From Goebbels' growing influence as an influential orator to his surprisingly affectionate family life, the meticulously edited footage serves as both point and counterpoint to Goebbels' diaries, revealing a paranoid intellectual capable of breathtaking, if not outright schizoid, shifts from one train of thought to another. A perceptive observer of culture (especially the art of motion pictures), he both loved Hitler and felt repeatedly betrayed by the Fuhrer's perceived offenses against him. Prone to chronic bouts of depression, Goebbels found purpose in his unprecedented orchestration of epic-scale propaganda, but his inner demons haunted him until the very end, when it became obvious that the Nazis had completely lost their power. The final images of Goebbels' partially burned body (along with those of his wife and six children) serve as a chilling reminder that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Having never found a satisfying balance between his personal and professional lives as a top-ranking Nazi, Goebbels' fate seems almost predetermined. As a masterful assembly of archival materials, The Goebbels Experiment is not to be missed. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Goebbels in his own words
While the crisp tones of British actor Kenneth Branaugh's reading of Nazi Propaganda Minister Doctor Joseph Goebbels' diary entries might not be the German accent you'd expect, don't let this put you off of what is arguably a fine example of the Doctor's intelligence and brilliance. Coupled with excellent film footage, "The Goebbels Experiment" is nothing but excerpts from Goebbels' diaries (no other narration is used) which reveal the man's obvious intelligence (he was the only intellectual, degreed member of Hitler's court, outside of Albert Speer, who was also vastly intelligent and talented) and his almost superhuman talent for political propaganda.

Throughout his life, Goebbels had been a prolific diarist, and his writings give us a colorful, detailed portrait of his days as Propaganda Minister of the Third Reich. All aspects of his personality - his intelligence, his cunning, his passion for his wife, Magda, and the other women with whom he engaged in sexual liaisons (and they were many) and, of course, his total devotion to the Nazi party and its leader, Adolf Hitler - are revealed "in his own words" without outside comment or censure.

While the Nazi movement was driven in large part by Hitler's will and charisma, it was the words of Dr. Joseph Goebbels that perpetuated the Party images and its myth, coaxing forth the loyalty and blind devotion of the German people until finally rallying them with the doctrine of "Total War" which nearly destroyed Germany completely.

Goebbels has been described by one historian as being the most interesting man in the Nazi party apart from Hitler, and this documentary shows you why. Loathe him though you may, there is no doubt of his genius. Without him, I personally doubt the Nazi movement would have survived as long as it did. It was as much Goebbels' war as Hitler's.

A "must see" for anyone interesting in WWII and Nazi Germany in particular.

Amazing!
This is an amazing film. Don't even know where to start.

- All you hear or watch are either documentaries or Goebbels own words. Of course, the facts can be used out of context etc, but still it's as close to truth as you can get.
- Quality of materials. We usually used to see WWII videos in black and white and it makes you feel disconneted from that time. Here they found some rare color films. It makes big difference!
- Feel the time. You here the sounds of that time, watch scenes from that time, listen to Goebbels own words. Looks like the authors were trying carefully to preserve that experience. The are not trying to give their own opinions or inject anything modern. So it's a very unspoiled view into pre WWII and WWII Germany.
- Great history lesson on propaganda, democracy etc. Some people would be probably surprised to realize that government got it's power in a democratic way by winning a series of elections and it had support from masses. That shows you the limits of democracy.

Overall, one of the best documentary films about that time released in the recent years!

Highly unique documentary
I had never heard of this movie until I saw it in the documentary section at my local Blockbuster the other day. Having long possessed an interest in the Nazi regime, as well as in the ways in which states use propaganda to boster their legitimacy, I decided to pick it up.

The documentary is structured in a rather unique way. It consists of Kenneth Branagh, the narrator, reading excerpts from Goebbels' diary while showing film footage from Goebbels' personal life as well as of the Nazis' rise to power. There is no outside commentary; the entire film is shown from Dr. Goebbels' own perspective. Because of this, the film doesn't provide a lot of background on the political events leading to the Nazis' usurpation of power and the onset of WWII. I think that a person could take away a lot from this movie even without knowing this historical background, but at least a basic knowledge of the Third Reich would definitely augment the experience.

I haven't actually read Goebbel's diaries, but I found the film entrancing. One of the more remarkable aspects of the film was the way in which it revealed Dr. Goebbels' internal contradictions. On the one hand, he was obviously a vile anti-Semite and a vulgar, unabashed proponent of German nationalism. On the other hand, at various times he reveals himself to be a highly cultured individual. His appreciation of cinema and the fine arts, however, is clearly due to his belief that these cultural media could be exploited to advance a particular political agenda, and this is obviously something that Dr. Goebbels' pursued rather successfully.

Without giving away the ending, I can say that the ending of the documentary contained some very disturbing images. I already knew before watching it what the fate of Dr. Goebbels' and his family was, but I was nonetheless shocked and unprepared for the final images.

I wouldn't recommend this film for anybody who is simply looking for a History Channel-style narrative of the rise and fall of the Nazi regime. I would highly recommend the movie for those interested in the ways that regimes exploit propaganda for their own political ends. Additionally, by telling the story from Goebbels' own perspective, the documentary provides an interesting account of why people are drawn to fascist, nationalist ideologies and the political movements that espouse those ideologies.