Mein Kampf - My Struggle [Import]

Utilizing rare footage found in Nazi archives at the end of World War II, this documentary presents a comprehensive and disturbing look at the rise of the Nazi party. The emergence of Hitler from an impoverished crank living in a flophouse to a man backed politically by rich industrialists as well as the German masses is portrayed with a wealth of archival photographs and films. Though first considered to be a joke, Hitler and cronies such as Goering and Himmler soon found themselves taken seriously, and this documentary shows how their cunning political skills, backed with the thuggery of their Brown Shirt followers, gradually established Hitler as a dictator. The eventual outbreak of war is depicted with dramatic film shot by the Nazis, which includes particularly chilling footage of a conflict that was shrouded in mystery until the war had ended, the massacre of Poles and others in territory swept over by the blitzkrieg. The madness and astounding violence that swept Europe is very well documented right up to Hitler's last public appearance, when he greeted boys who had been fighting for the doomed German war machine in the final months of the war. A second biographical documentary, Adolf Hitler, appears as a bonus feature on the DVD. --Robert J. McNamara