Screen Grabs: Forbidden, foreboding 'Hitler, A Film From Germany' returns - 48 hills

"Few movies have been discussed so much and seen so little as Hitler, A Film From Germany, the 1977 magnum opus from German director Hans-Jurgen Syberberg. It played a succession of international festivals, including Cannes, then got very slowly got released in a handful of countries (in the US as Our Hitler)-but to what extent? It's quite possible this seven-hour behemoth hasn't been screened in the Bay Area since a reported Palace of Fine Arts showing 48 years ago."

"Still alive if reclusive all these decades later at age 90, the director himself has hardly cooperated in keeping even his most famous work accessible. When some subsequent writings and comments drew accusations of reactionary anti-Semitism, he seemed to gradually cease desiring any standard public exposure for his filmic work at all. There are a number of titles on his IMDB page (most literary-monologue-based collaborations with the actress Edith Clever) that it's unclear anyone ever saw."

"Ludwig and German exotic-adventure author Karl May were the principal subjects of two prior epic features whose "Wagnerian trilogy" was completed by Hitler. All three (plus his 1982 Parsifal, a phantasmagorical "staging" of the opera) are audiovisual meditations on Germany as culture, ideal, delusion and monster-examined from the angles of historical analysis, psychology, legacy, indictment. Syberberg's educational background was in theater, art history and literature."

"Those curious might not want to put off attending the one-off projection at Berkeley's BAMPFA this Sat/16 (starting at 1:30pm, with a dinner break around 5:30pm), unless you figure you can wait another half-century or so for the next chance."

A seven-hour German film about Hitler has circulated through major international festivals but reached only a small number of countries and has rarely been shown in the Bay Area. A one-off screening is scheduled at Berkeley’s BAMPFA, with a long runtime and a dinner break. The director has not consistently supported public availability of his work, and later writings and comments drew accusations of reactionary anti-Semitism. Multiple projects associated with the director appear difficult to verify as widely seen. The film is part of a broader set of monumental works centered on German cultural figures, including Ludwig II and Karl May, and is linked to a Wagnerian trilogy completed by Hitler. These works function as audiovisual meditations on Germany’s culture, ideals, delusions, and historical legacy.

Read at 48 hills