Product Details

• Actors: Norman Rodway, Camilla Søeberg, Peter Michael Goetz, Doug McKeon, Glenn Shadix
• Directors: Barry J. Hershey
• Writers: Barry J. Hershey, R. Buckingham
• Producers: David D. Johnson, Jay Roach, William Dance
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Vidmark / Trimark
• VHS Release Date: August 19, 2003
• Run Time: 118 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000A1HQU
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #510,290 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Compelling, hallucinogenic, and terrifying, October 19, 2000

By 

R.L. Holly "piper909" (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Empty Mirror [VHS] (VHS Tape)

"Only a poet could touch the edge of the Fuhrer mystery."

Welcome to the Third Reich on acid, or perhaps it's just another day in Hell with Adolf Hitler. This surreal trip through the twisted visions of history's most dreaded dictator is a brilliant tour de force for director and co-scripter Barry Hershey. Norman Rodway gives a commendable performance as Hitler (who once declared, "I am the greatest actor in Europe", a line repeated in this film), and there are smaller roles for henchmen Goebels and Goering, wife Eva Braun, and Sigmund Freud (who pops up on occasion to spar wryly with the Fuhrer). Add the victims of WWII, making cameos through the use of back-projected archive footage -- a sort of silent Greek chorus -- and you truly have the proverbial "cast of thousands" (or millions, if we include *all* the dead).

This is not a simple film, nor a simple subject, and the avant-garde approach taken here works superbly, lending insight and dramatic effect to what might otherwise have come off as a static monologue (or a staid conventional film, such as "Hitler: The Last Ten Days"). The pace lags a bit in the latter third, but the fluid transitions and liquid foldings of scene into scene, the use of special lighting and camera effects, and the imaginative editing generally keep the viewer entranced. The underground setting is unspecified -- perhaps it IS Hell, or merely the Fuhrerbunker in Berlin, 1945, as Hitler dreams away his last sunless days -- but many architectural features are taken from real places, Nazism's court composer Wagner is used effectively in the soundtrack, and much of the dialogue comes from Hitler's own speeches or writings, lending an air of authentic menace.

To gaze into the depths of the human soul is an unnerving experience; Rodway succeeds in displaying to us the many facets of Hitler's persona, in a voice that is sometimes reasonable and seductive, at other times a bestial howl. "I wasn't put in a lunatic asylum -- I *created* a lunatic asylum. I fused the symbolic with the real ... I exuded spiritual terror!" From gloating over his accomplishments and grandiose plans (including the rebuilding of Berlin to glorify his projected masoleum) to invoking a tidal wave of war and destruction, the evil sorcerer of National Socialism looks back on his reign knowing that his progeny would be many and that his legacy would hover, spectrelike, over the new millennium. "We gave them all much to brood over, didn't we, Joseph?" he chortles to his propaganda minister. But by the film's final Gotterdammerung, even the bloody megalomania of a Hitler is unable to cope with the horror unleashed. Even a Hitler can be brought to awareness, and despair; even a Hitler, eternally accursed and tormented beyond salvation, can be pitied as his horrible destiny ends with the proverbial whimper.

Read the history books to learn what happened, but watch "The Empty Mirror" to comprehend HOW it happened.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just watched this GEM of a movie, April 10, 2001

By 

intheknow (Utah) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Empty Mirror [VHS] (VHS Tape)

As I am reading some of the reviews, I begin to realize that this masterpiece is not for the unsophisticated who draws a blank at symbolism. It also would not hurt to have read some of the more comprehensive works on the subject such as J. Toland's "Hitler" to understand the making and the pathologies of this sometimes gentle monster. There are so many outstanding moments in this film. Like when Hitler tallies up the murdered Jews and comes up slightly short of six mio., then trivializes it by claiming the other side is always embellishing. The illuminated part where he stands in the light beam of his projector directing Handel's Messiah. Yes, he is the creator! The phallic symbol of shattered mirror he holds up. Yes, there was a problem with potency. Finally his jailer becoming himself. And his last act to immerse into the tunnel and into the light, cleverly staged through the light beam of the projector. Frustratingly clawing entry into the projection. No, he is not permitted entry. His pained face shows utter torment and eventually takes on the image of a distorted mask against a black background. Norman Rodway as Hitler did a fantastic and believable portrayal of Hitler. No, he is not the spitting image of the egomaniac, but remember looks can be deceiving!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Empty Mirror is Full of Thought and Artistic Vision, April 18, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Empty Mirror [VHS] (VHS Tape)

A truly brillant treatment of the subject. Goes deep into the Philosophy and motives of Facism and Nazi Racism. All Words are Hilter's own (!) taken from various sources and acted superbly by Norman Rodway. This makes the film so interesting. Freud and Hitler spar in a interesting postmodern dialogue. Hope it is on DVD soon!