‘Mein Kampf’ - First Photos

Filming of George Tabori’s filmgroteske, adaptation of Hitler’s book ‘Mein Kampf‘ with Götz George and Tom Schilling in the leading roles started on April, 22. The first shots are from Vienna’s Schönbrunn Palace.

Tom Schilling plays the young Adolf Hitler who lives in Vienna and shares his room with two Jews, the book dealer Schlomo Herzl (Götz George) and the cook Lobkowicz (Bernd Birkhahn).

Mein Kampf is a Swiss / German / Austrian co-production with 2.7 million euros budget.

Director: Urs Odermatt
Writer: George Tabori
Starring: Tom Schilling, Götz George, Bernd Birkhahn Read the rest of this entry

Adolf Hitler Farce-Biopic Begins Filming in Vienna

Filming started on a tongue-in-cheek biopic of Adolf Hitler in Vienna on Tuesday, which producers say will be a “timeless parable” of the struggle between good and evil.

The film, “Mein Kampf” (My Struggle), is based on a play of the same name by the late Hungarian-Jewish playwright George Tabori and will premiere in Germany next year.

Rather than trying to present a historically accurate version of Hitler’s early life in Austria, the film, directed by Sweden’s Urs Odermatt, mixes reality and fiction with a hefty dose of irony.

“All this will be blended with a psychological profile of a future tyrant,” the producers said in a statement.

In the script, a fresh-faced Hitler played by German actor Tom Schilling arrives in Vienna with dreams of becoming a great artist. The true Hitler had ambitions to become an architect.

Short of money, he shares a room with two Jewish men, Lobkowitz, a failed cook, and a bookseller named Herzl, who takes the young Hitler under his wing. Read the rest of this entry

‘Die Welle’ (The Wave) Sure To Touch Some Nerves

A fascinating new German film has just turned up that’s sure to ruffle a few feathers given its subject matter. ‘Die Welle’ (the wave) examines the possibilities of how a new Nazi styled dictatorship could rise to ascendancy, even against a strong background of education regarding it’s dark history.

The whole thing is based on an actual experiment carried out by schoolteacher Ron Jones back in California in 1967 in which he subjected students to a harsh regime of obedience and conformity. The experiment involved the recital of logos, a uniform, membership cards and even their own salute.

Before long, those involved were quiet and obedient and believed in what they stood for with a sinister passion. The experiment rapidly grew out of control when people outside the group who criticized them were the subject of an aggressive responsive from the those involved. Jones ended the experiment by tricking students into attending a meeting in which they expected to meet the movement’s leader. Instead, they were shown a film of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime which by all accounts had a pretty profound affect on all involved, leading many to never speak of it again. Read the rest of this entry