How Goebbels revolutionized fake news
Person or Monster? "Leader and Seducer" chooses a new approach to tell the story of Hitler, for whom Goebbels, his propaganda minister, was responsible for shaping his public image. This documentary is both shockingly relevant today.
More than 90 years have passed since the Nazi seizure of power under Adolf Hitler's leadership. What followed were nothing but war, destruction, and the death of millions of innocents. Many wonder today how it could have come to this and are shocked to find that humanity has learned nothing. For in truth, what happened then is what is happening now in Russia's attack on Ukraine and Israel's war in Gaza: propaganda and disinformation are being stirred up against the perceived enemy, allowing one's own agenda to be pushed through in a power rush and without regard for losses.
While terror organizations, populists, and dictators today use social media like Telegram and X for the quick dissemination of their fake news, it was a man who held the reins in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century: Joseph Goebbels. He was the one who elevated Adolf Hitler to the status of savior in the public eye through strategic maneuvers, thereby winning over the majority of the population and inciting them against the Jews. He was the one who made Hitler into what we still see in him today: the embodiment of evil. A monster. This phenomenon is the focus of Joachim A. Lang's documentary "Leader and Seducer," which aims to decipher it.
A Look into Hitler's Inner Circle
The film begins with a voice that is familiar but hardly recognizable in its tone. It is a clip from a conversation between Adolf Hitler and Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Army, from 1942. This spoken document, which can be found on the internet, is worlds apart from the familiar tone of Hitler's Reich Party Congress speeches. According to Lang, this distinctive demeanor did not emerge until under the influence of Joseph Goebbels, portrayed in the film by Robert Stadlober. The portrayal is based on the contents of Goebbels' original diaries, as well as recordings and footage from that time - including the famous "Do you want total war?" speech.
Journalist, author, and director Lang, who wrote this film with the help of historian Thomas Weber, also relies on original dialogues from letters and protocols as well as Hitler's "Mein Kampf." The film offers a glimpse into Hitler's inner circle and tells the events of 1938 to 1945, frequently interrupted by interviews with Holocaust survivors such as Margot Friedländer, as well as original images of concentration camp prisoners, mass graves, and executions. It is not an easy watch.
Man vs. Monster
"Leader and Seducer" shows that Hitler, played by Fritz Karl, was not a monster in the way we have come to perceive him. "Uncle Hitler," as Goebbels' children called him, gives relationship advice cheerfully and has other human qualities that counteract the usual demonization and dehumanization of the character. The truly diabolical thing is the manipulation of the population through all channels - from radio to "Deutsche Wochenschau" all the way into the arts and cultural sphere. The film shows Goebbels as the driving force behind propaganda decisions, who raised it to a whole new level.
Goebbels was not a particularly nice man privately, but rather one who mistreated his wife Magda (Franziska Weisz) and deceived her. This does not require any special mention and is also a footnote in the film. The Austrian Stadlober imitates Goebbels' attempt to be someone else with forced cheerfulness and has fully embraced the dislikeable character.
What remains at the end of the 136 grueling and demanding minutes is a slime feeling and the barely maintainable hope that the tricks revealed in the film, which populists still rely on today, will no longer function once they have fully internalized them. A reasonable step would be to make "Fuhrer and Verfuhrer" required viewing for school education. This summer's good-mood film is certainly not a historical drama.
"Fuhrer and Verfuhrer" starts showing in the cinema now.
- The documentary "Leader and Seducer" explores how Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler's propaganda minister, shaped the public image of Hitler, who was known for his Anti-Semitic beliefs and actions during National Socialism, leading to the Holocaust during the Second World War.
- The movie "Leader and Seducer" also delves into the role of propaganda in shaping public sentiment, as seen in the manipulation of public opinion against the Jews during Hitler's reign, paralleling modern-day instances of propaganda and disinformation in conflict zones like Ukraine and Gaza.
- In examining Hitler's public image, the movie "Leader and Seducer" highlights that even a figure as notorious as Hitler was not immune to manipulation through the movie and cinema industry, with Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels using strategic maneuvers to elevate Hitler's status as a savior in the public eye.
