There have been enough in the way of documentaries about every aspect of Hitler’s life, leadership style, personal relationships, and the like to fill a warehouse. However, a great many of these releases have been on the poor side, either ignoring entire lines of reasoning or coming forth as badly researched. Hitler’s Bodyguard, a ten-hour documentary, originally was aired on the Military Channel (which itself is held by Discovery).
The documentary has a wide-arching scope that leads viewers through Hitler’s rise to power all the way to the last few days of eir life. In doing so, a cohesive narrative about the titular group is weaved into the larger landscape of the war. What is surprising here is exactly how solid the footage collected for this documentary is; while these films are over sixty years old, individuals are able to clearly make out and understand what is going on in every celluloid scrap. Where some sections of this documentary may be a little on the intellectual side, I feel that Hitler’s Bodyguard does well in creating a story that viewers of all ages can enjoy.
Aside from the featured documentary, there are a number of additional features that increase the worth of this set. This means that there is a viewer’s guide that provides a roadmap for those that may want to focus on a specific section of the documentary, while the “Who’s Who Among Hitler’s Bodyguard” provides viewers with a tremendous amount of information about Hitler’s pack that would normally be left to the annals of history. The most interesting addition for me is one that is based on fiction; present here is a “Killing Hitler in the Movies” filmography that showcases how much individual directors broke from reality.
Rating: 8.2/10
Hitler’s Bodyguard (DVD) / 2010 Acorn / 611 Minutes / http://www.acornmedia.com