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Special Features
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Editorial Reviews
Review
Deeply fascinating, unexpectedly potent! --Kenneth Turan, The Los Angeles Times
A fearfully fascinating, disturbing picture! --Stanley Kauffmann, The New Republic
Moeller transforms what might have been mere cultural scholarship into something larger - a microcosm of postwar German guilt and redemption. --Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor
A fearfully fascinating, disturbing picture! --Stanley Kauffmann, The New Republic
Moeller transforms what might have been mere cultural scholarship into something larger - a microcosm of postwar German guilt and redemption. --Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor
Product Description
Though almost forgotten today, Veit Harlan was one of Nazi Germany's most notorious filmmakers. Millions all across occupied Europe saw his films, the most infamous of which was the horrific anti-Semitic propaganda film Jew Süss - required viewing for all SS members. An unrepentant and blindly obsessive craftsman, no figure - save for Leni Riefenstahl - is as closely associated with the cinema of the Holocaust years as that of Joseph Goebbels' top director (Quentin Tarantino used Harlan's 1945 epic Kolberg as the basis for Inglourious Basterds' pivotal film-within-a-film Stolz der Nation.) Harlan was also the only artist from the Nazi era to be charged with war crimes.
With never-before-seen archival footage, unearthed film excerpts, rare home movies and new interviews, Harlan is a searing portrait of the controversial filmmaker and an eye-opening examination of World War II film history. But it also shows how Veit Harlan's family - especially the youngest generation - struggles with the dark myth of his artistic immorality. It's the story of a German family from the Third Reich to the present, one that is marked by reckoning, denial and liberation.
DVD SPECIAL FEATURES
- New anamorphic transfer, created from hi-def elements
- Q&A with Veit Harlan's granddaughter, journalist and critic Jessica Jacoby
- Video interview with acclaimed German writer and filmmaker Alexander Kluge (Germany in Autumn) about Harlan's film career
With never-before-seen archival footage, unearthed film excerpts, rare home movies and new interviews, Harlan is a searing portrait of the controversial filmmaker and an eye-opening examination of World War II film history. But it also shows how Veit Harlan's family - especially the youngest generation - struggles with the dark myth of his artistic immorality. It's the story of a German family from the Third Reich to the present, one that is marked by reckoning, denial and liberation.
DVD SPECIAL FEATURES
- New anamorphic transfer, created from hi-def elements
- Q&A with Veit Harlan's granddaughter, journalist and critic Jessica Jacoby
- Video interview with acclaimed German writer and filmmaker Alexander Kluge (Germany in Autumn) about Harlan's film career
Customer Reviews
“ It traces the career of a a talented man who directed an infamous and incendiary propaganda film at the behest of his national socialist masters. ”
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is a very long and intimate documentary interspersed with present day interviews in subtitled German. It traces the career of a a talented man who directed an infamous and incendiary propaganda film at the behest of his national socialist masters.
The essestial conflict embedded in this bioppic is that Harlan never once acknowedeged any moral culpabilty--insisting to the end that his film was produced under duress. The impact of this disavowal on his modern day descendants is subsqeuently dealt with in detail.
Although I gave this film a 5-Star rating, I did so with the caveat that it will not likely appeal to a mainstream audience. Only those with some interest in --or knowledge of--the period will be receptive. As as added thought, it would be have useful to have the propragnanda film itelf included as a extra in this DVD. But alas, that was not the case.
The essestial conflict embedded in this bioppic is that Harlan never once acknowedeged any moral culpabilty--insisting to the end that his film was produced under duress. The impact of this disavowal on his modern day descendants is subsqeuently dealt with in detail.
Although I gave this film a 5-Star rating, I did so with the caveat that it will not likely appeal to a mainstream audience. Only those with some interest in --or knowledge of--the period will be receptive. As as added thought, it would be have useful to have the propragnanda film itelf included as a extra in this DVD. But alas, that was not the case.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
More than even Leni Riefenstahl Veit Harlan served as the Third Reich's premier film director.
From his 1940 Jud Suss to his 1944 Kolberg Harlan produced movies that essentially tried to tell the German people about how they should feel and what they should be doing as the Reich arched through its war years.
For its part this documentary narrows its focus mostly to Harlan's surviving children and grandchildren through whom it tries to deal with the question of just how they should feel about being associated with such an infamous person as Veit Harlan.
For those unaware of it the 1940 Jud Suss was both the Reich's take on the story of one Jud Suss Oppenheimer and the 1934 American movie Power (starring Conrad Veidt) which told a decidedly different version of the tale. A real person, the historical Oppenheimer served King Karl Alexander at the court of Wurtenberg (one of the German mini states that existed prior to their unification in 1871). While it seems doubtless that the historical Oppenheimer had an appreciation for the finer things in life as a historical character there's also no serious question about his genuine service to his King. Those points were brought out in the American film Power.
The bad qualities of course would be brought out in Jud Suss, the Reich film (directed by Harlan). Starring Ferdinand Marian Harlan's Jud Suss was not so much a heonist as a monster who turned everything into his pleasure, ultimately including even the German maiden (played by Harlan's real life wife Kristina Soderbaum) put in the film specifically to inflame anti semitic prejudices against comingling between Jews and non Jews. Not surprisingly some 20 million people in the occupied Reich saw Jud Suss. Perhaps not so surprisingly the film was also seen by another 20 million outside the occupied Reich in Europe proper.
The same week the film was released the SS leader Heinrich Himmler made the movie required viewing for his SS corps.
For their part Harlan's progeny seemed in turns ashamed and disappointed to be connected with any part of the Holocaust machinery (even its entertainment division). Other than their connection with Harlan none of them seemed to people who were otherwise noteworthy, an observation that leaves viewers at some point wondering just why the documentary pointed it focus on these people instead of elsewhere like perhaps either of the times Harlan was tried for War Crimes in connection with directing this movie.
THAT would have been an interesting story because while his trials saw him acquitted both times it seems safe to say Harlan nonetheless remains convicted in the dock of history.
From his 1940 Jud Suss to his 1944 Kolberg Harlan produced movies that essentially tried to tell the German people about how they should feel and what they should be doing as the Reich arched through its war years.
For its part this documentary narrows its focus mostly to Harlan's surviving children and grandchildren through whom it tries to deal with the question of just how they should feel about being associated with such an infamous person as Veit Harlan.
For those unaware of it the 1940 Jud Suss was both the Reich's take on the story of one Jud Suss Oppenheimer and the 1934 American movie Power (starring Conrad Veidt) which told a decidedly different version of the tale. A real person, the historical Oppenheimer served King Karl Alexander at the court of Wurtenberg (one of the German mini states that existed prior to their unification in 1871). While it seems doubtless that the historical Oppenheimer had an appreciation for the finer things in life as a historical character there's also no serious question about his genuine service to his King. Those points were brought out in the American film Power.
The bad qualities of course would be brought out in Jud Suss, the Reich film (directed by Harlan). Starring Ferdinand Marian Harlan's Jud Suss was not so much a heonist as a monster who turned everything into his pleasure, ultimately including even the German maiden (played by Harlan's real life wife Kristina Soderbaum) put in the film specifically to inflame anti semitic prejudices against comingling between Jews and non Jews. Not surprisingly some 20 million people in the occupied Reich saw Jud Suss. Perhaps not so surprisingly the film was also seen by another 20 million outside the occupied Reich in Europe proper.
The same week the film was released the SS leader Heinrich Himmler made the movie required viewing for his SS corps.
For their part Harlan's progeny seemed in turns ashamed and disappointed to be connected with any part of the Holocaust machinery (even its entertainment division). Other than their connection with Harlan none of them seemed to people who were otherwise noteworthy, an observation that leaves viewers at some point wondering just why the documentary pointed it focus on these people instead of elsewhere like perhaps either of the times Harlan was tried for War Crimes in connection with directing this movie.
THAT would have been an interesting story because while his trials saw him acquitted both times it seems safe to say Harlan nonetheless remains convicted in the dock of history.
8 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Powerful documentary on Hitler's infamous filmmaker raises contemporary moral questions
November 22, 2010
Format:DVD
If you are an educator, historian, film buff or concerned parent interested in remembering lessons from the Holocaust--I strongly recommend this Zeitgeist DVD release: "Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew Suss."
I am a journalist with decades of experience covering religion, cultural diversity and the tragic legacy of hate crimes. Over the decades, I have watched nearly every film about the Holocaust in general release--and I can tell you that "Harlan" is unique. This Holocaust documentary is not a typical tour of the Final Solution and death camps. In fact, there are no scenes from the camps in this film. Instead, "Harlan" covers the life--and long legacy--of the infamous Nazi filmmaker Veit Harlan who created the single most famous anti-Semitic feature film.
During the Third Reich, millions watched Harlan's feature film, "Jud Süß," which incited viewers to destroy "dangerous" Jews living in their communities. "Jud Süß" was a feature-length, black-and-white costume drama, set in the 1700s. The film featured a horrific Jewish villain who casually committed crimes such as rape and torture to amass personal power--until a popular uprising among ordinary people finally destroyed him. "Jud Süß" was a savage melodrama that indelibly burned stereotypes and righteous fury into viewers' memories.
One of Harlan's own sons called "Jud Süß" the equivalent of "a murder weapon" for the Third Reich. Diary entries from Nazi propaganda czar Joseph Goebbels draw the same conclusion.
The opening of the new documentary "Harlan" explores the life of Viet Harlan, who comes across as a sociopath. He seems to have been a talented film director with no moral qualms as he trampled others in pursuit of Hitler's inner circle, fame, fortune and luxury. Throughout his stormy life, Harlan usually enjoyed both riches and the companionship of beautiful women--even after the war. He was put on trial twice for war crimes--and the documentary explains how he managed to escape conviction in both cases. Especially in the first half of the documentary, "Harlan" repeatedly asks viewers: What would you be wiling to do in modern media in pursuit of fame and fortune, if you had no moral qualms about the people you might destroy along the way? That's certainly a relevant moral question in 2010 and beyond.
In the second half of the film, we learn about the extreme reactions among members of Harlan's extended family--right up into the 21st century. One of Harlan's sons became an internationally known activist against everything associated with his father's career. Another son seems to defend the old man. Because of his multiple marriages, Harlan's family tree branches in many directions. One Harlan niece became the wife of world-renowned director Stanley Kubrik. And, this niece was not alone among Harlan's descendants in marrying Jewish spouses. The personal choices made in Harlan's family are like aftershocks from an earthquake. The list of choices Harlan's descendants made, in reaction to his life's work in the 1930s and '40s, includes suicide.
"Harlan" is a revelation on many levels. Most movie fans, for example, are unaware that the creator of "Clockwork Orange," "2001," "The Shining" and so many other classics of world cinema was related to Hitler's most deadly filmmaker. Except for rare books, such as "The Wolf at the Door: Stanley Kubrick, History, and the Holocaust," Kubrick's connection to the Harlan family is largely unknown. Couple those revelations with fresh connections "Harlan" makes to anti-nuclear activism and the moral code of media professionals in general--and you'll have no shortage of spirited discussion!
I am a journalist with decades of experience covering religion, cultural diversity and the tragic legacy of hate crimes. Over the decades, I have watched nearly every film about the Holocaust in general release--and I can tell you that "Harlan" is unique. This Holocaust documentary is not a typical tour of the Final Solution and death camps. In fact, there are no scenes from the camps in this film. Instead, "Harlan" covers the life--and long legacy--of the infamous Nazi filmmaker Veit Harlan who created the single most famous anti-Semitic feature film.
During the Third Reich, millions watched Harlan's feature film, "Jud Süß," which incited viewers to destroy "dangerous" Jews living in their communities. "Jud Süß" was a feature-length, black-and-white costume drama, set in the 1700s. The film featured a horrific Jewish villain who casually committed crimes such as rape and torture to amass personal power--until a popular uprising among ordinary people finally destroyed him. "Jud Süß" was a savage melodrama that indelibly burned stereotypes and righteous fury into viewers' memories.
One of Harlan's own sons called "Jud Süß" the equivalent of "a murder weapon" for the Third Reich. Diary entries from Nazi propaganda czar Joseph Goebbels draw the same conclusion.
The opening of the new documentary "Harlan" explores the life of Viet Harlan, who comes across as a sociopath. He seems to have been a talented film director with no moral qualms as he trampled others in pursuit of Hitler's inner circle, fame, fortune and luxury. Throughout his stormy life, Harlan usually enjoyed both riches and the companionship of beautiful women--even after the war. He was put on trial twice for war crimes--and the documentary explains how he managed to escape conviction in both cases. Especially in the first half of the documentary, "Harlan" repeatedly asks viewers: What would you be wiling to do in modern media in pursuit of fame and fortune, if you had no moral qualms about the people you might destroy along the way? That's certainly a relevant moral question in 2010 and beyond.
In the second half of the film, we learn about the extreme reactions among members of Harlan's extended family--right up into the 21st century. One of Harlan's sons became an internationally known activist against everything associated with his father's career. Another son seems to defend the old man. Because of his multiple marriages, Harlan's family tree branches in many directions. One Harlan niece became the wife of world-renowned director Stanley Kubrik. And, this niece was not alone among Harlan's descendants in marrying Jewish spouses. The personal choices made in Harlan's family are like aftershocks from an earthquake. The list of choices Harlan's descendants made, in reaction to his life's work in the 1930s and '40s, includes suicide.
"Harlan" is a revelation on many levels. Most movie fans, for example, are unaware that the creator of "Clockwork Orange," "2001," "The Shining" and so many other classics of world cinema was related to Hitler's most deadly filmmaker. Except for rare books, such as "The Wolf at the Door: Stanley Kubrick, History, and the Holocaust," Kubrick's connection to the Harlan family is largely unknown. Couple those revelations with fresh connections "Harlan" makes to anti-nuclear activism and the moral code of media professionals in general--and you'll have no shortage of spirited discussion!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
very good biography of a good filmaker who sells out to naziism.
Without a doubt the directors children are correct in condemning their father for going along with naziism to further his own career. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Michael Dobey
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lest we forget.
From this documentary, I gather that Veit Harlan's major body of work consists of competently directed, rather ham-handed, romantic melodramas that look pretty corny to... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Keith Nichols
2.0 out of 5 stars
Harlan
This is a critical documentary in German, with English sub-titles, about Veit Harlan, a director who worked principally during the Third Reich; the main thrust against him is... Read more
Published 12 months ago by A. Simon
5.0 out of 5 stars
Touching and Unique
This is a very personal and unique look at the German filmmaker Veit Harlan, his beautiful Swedish actress wife and the repercussions on Harlan's extended family of his decision to... Read more
Published on March 16, 2011 by Todd and In Charge
3.0 out of 5 stars
Bad "feature"
For some inexplicable reason, Amazon has removed the rate movie feature from the main product page. One must now write a review in order to rate a movie and generate... Read more
Published on January 31, 2011 by Charles D. Fulton
5.0 out of 5 stars
Creative Film-maker under the grip of Nazi Patronage
This is a unique documentary exposing the frustrations of a talented film director,who was always watched by the State Police,i.e. Staatspolizie. Read more
Published on December 19, 2010 by Magickal Merlin
