X
  • 2021
  • IFC Films
  • 1 h 32 m
  • 2021
  • IFC Films
  • 1 h 32 m

Summary The Meaning of Hitler is a provocative interrogation of our culture’s fascination with Hitler and Nazism set against the backdrop of the current rise of white supremacy, the normalization of antisemitism and the weaponization of history itself. Shot in nine countries, the film traces Hitler’s movements, his rise to power and the scenes o...

Directed By: Petra Epperlein, Michael Tucker

Written By: Sebastian Haffner, Michael Tucker

  • 2021
  • IFC Films
  • 1 h 32 m
  • 2021
  • IFC Films
  • 1 h 32 m

The Meaning of Hitler

Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 8 Critic Reviews
76
User Score Generally Unfavorable Based on 6 User Ratings
2.8
My Score
Hover and click to give a rating Saved

Where to Watch

Summary The Meaning of Hitler is a provocative interrogation of our culture’s fascination with Hitler and Nazism set against the backdrop of the current rise of white supremacy, the normalization of antisemitism and the weaponization of history itself. Shot in nine countries, the film traces Hitler’s movements, his rise to power and the scenes o...

Directed By: Petra Epperlein, Michael Tucker

Written By: Sebastian Haffner, Michael Tucker

Where to Watch

Top Cast

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Matilda Tucker

Narrator

Martin Amis

Self - Novelist: The Zone of Interest

Adolf Hitler

Self

Mike Taibbi

Self

Sebastian Haffner

Self

Yehuda Bauer

Self - Historian: Rethinking the Holocaust

Peter Theiss-Abendroth

Self - Psychiatrist

Richard Evans

Self - Historian: The Hitler Conspiracies: The Third Reich and the Paranoid Imagination

Saul Friedländer

Self - Historian: Nazi Germany and the Jews

Francine Prose

Self - Novelist: Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife

Enno Lenze

Self - Curator: Berlin Story Bunker Museum

Mark Benecke

Self - Forensic Biologist: Examined Hitler's Skull Fragments in Moscow

Florian Kotanko

Self - Educator

Klaus Theweleit

Self - Sociologist: Male Fantasies Volumes 1 and 2

Winfried Nerdinger

Self - Historian: Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism

Alexander Gauland

Self - Far-Right German Leader

Martin Sellner

Self - Austrian Identitarian

Sarah Forgey

Self - Chief of Art: US Army Center of Military History

Georg Hamann

Self - Historian

Deborah Lipstadt

Self - Historian: Antisemitism: Here and Now

View All Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 8 Critic Reviews
76
100% Positive
8 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 8 Critic Reviews
76
100% Positive
8 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
90
Aug 19, 2021
We go into The Meaning of Hitler craving that millimeter of insight, of intrigue and revelation. And the film provides it. It ruminates on Hitler and the Third Reich in ways that churn up your platitudes.
By Owen Gleiberman FULL REVIEW
90
Aug 19, 2021
An intellectual inquiry with burning present-day resonance, The Meaning of Hitler is also a road trip through some of the darkest chapters of European history.
By Sheri Linden FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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User Score
Generally Unfavorable Based on 6 User Ratings
2.8
17% Positive
1 Rating
17% Mixed
1 Rating
67% Negative
4 Ratings

User Reviews

 View All
User Score
Generally Unfavorable Based on 6 User Ratings
2.8
17% Positive
1 Rating
17% Mixed
1 Rating
67% Negative
4 Ratings

There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.

88
Aug 19, 2021
If you see just one “Hitler” film this year, make it this one.
By Roger Moore FULL REVIEW
70
Aug 19, 2021
This ambitious and mutedly angry film also assumes an ironic tone in examining the Hitler phenomenon from angles political, sociological, psychological and, very intriguingly, cinematic.
By John Anderson FULL REVIEW
70
Aug 12, 2021
The Meaning of Hitler takes a multifaceted, often counterintuitive approach to examining the underpinnings of fascism.
By Ben Kenigsberg FULL REVIEW
63
Aug 13, 2021
The Meaning of Hitler never quite reconciles its central concern of whether continuing to talk about Hitler is an inherently compromised pursuit, and that uneasiness feels like an unintentional capitulation for an otherwise well-intentioned project.
By Roxana Hadadi FULL REVIEW
63
Aug 10, 2021
Though uneven, the film is clever about avoiding age-old conundrums regarding the disavowal of the language of horror.
By Diego Semerene FULL REVIEW
See All 8 Critic Reviews

Details

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Production Company Play/Action Pictures, Uwaga Films
Release Date Aug 13, 2021
Duration 1 h 32 m
Genres
Website https://www.ifcfilms.com/films/the-meaning-of-hitler
View All Details

Awards

DOC NYC
• 1 Nomination

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