NYJFF ’15: Forbidden Films

You have to wonder if Nicki Minaj’s Nazi propaganda-inspired video is even legal in Germany. If not, it might find a place in the vault where archivists store the National Socialist films considered so incendiary they remain barred from public screenings and above-board distribution. It is there Felix Moeller begins Forbidden Films (trailer here), a documentary survey of banned Third Reich cinema which screens during the 2015 New York Jewish Film Festival.

The explosive nitrate film stock the wartime filmmakers used makes “explosive” metaphors too easy. Given its inherent instability, the storage unit was deliberately constructed facing a large land berm to absorb the shock, should it ever ignite. Recalling the vibe of Into Eternity, documentarian Michael Madsen’s excursion to the underground nuclear by-product holding facility Onkalo, these are arguably the best scenes of Forbidden. Unfortunately, they are soon dispensed with.

Most of the documentary consists of brief analysis of banned films representative of particular propaganda categories and a subjective determination of their lasting potency, often involving rare public screenings, under strictly controlled circumstances. The result is a strange mishmash that almost approaches a hate propaganda installment of the That’s Entertainment franchise.

Moeller breaks samples of the forty remaining prohibited films down into broad themes, such as the gloriousness of war, the supposed villainy of Poles, and the dehumanization of Jews. Granted, just about everyone who sees Veit Harlan’s Jew Süss (the subject of Moeller’s better, previous doc) is disturbed by its naked anti-Semitism and the uncomfortable effectiveness of its dramatic manipulations. However, Moeller is clearly conflicted how to handle audience attempts to defend Wolfgang Liebeneiner’s I Accuse, an ardent euthanasia advocacy film that especially pleased Goebbels precisely because it normalizes the killing of the weak. These viewers cry out to be challenged, but Moeller just punts it away to the next thematic section.

Moeller might think he is plumbing the depths of the German soul, but Forbidden is really rather shallow. For all its purported concern over neo-Nazi groups it never examines the precipitous rise in anti-Semitism in Europe, in part driven by immigration from the Islamic world, or questions how these films might play to non-European audiences. Nor does it get into the deeper wonky details on the Denazification of most of the twelve hundred some films made during the National Socialist era, some of which were musicals and romantic comedies that merely required a swastika to be edited out here and there.

Not nearly as thorough as it should be, Forbidden Films is far from a must-see at this year’s NYJFF (check out the far superior Natan instead). Of course, for those perversely fascinated by National Socialist propaganda, who are also tired of re-watching Minaj’s “Only” video, it is the only game in town, flawed though it is. It screens this Thursday (1/22) and next Sunday (1/25) at the Walter Reade Theater.

The Dark Auteur: Harlan—In the Shadow of Jew Süss

It is impossible to deny Veit Harlan’s considerable place in the history of world cinema. The husband of Kristina Söderbaum, one of Germany’s most popular actress during the Nazi era, and the uncle of Stanley Kubrick’s future wife, Harlan was also the director of one of the most widely screened films of 1940. Unfortunately, that film was the viciously anti-Semitic Jew Süss, produced for the National Socialist propaganda ministry. The implications of that film dogged Harlan for the rest of his life and continue to haunt his family, who struggle to come to grips with their father’s legacy in Felix Moeller’s new documentary, Harlan—In the Shadow of Jew Süss (trailer here), which opens tomorrow in New York.

How bad was Jew Süss? After the war, Harlan was twice put on trial for crimes against humanity solely for directing the film (but was ultimately acquitted each time). Having been enthusiastically received by Joseph Goebbels, all members of the SS and Germany’s police forces were ordered to see it. As a result, many blame Harlan’s film for contributing to the willingness and alacrity of those charged with carrying out the Holocaust.

How well crafted was Jew Süss as a film, regardless of its incendiary content? That seems to be a matter of debate. Throughout Shadow, terms like “sentimental,” “kitschy,” and “old-fashioned” are used to describe Harlan’s pre- and post-Jew Süss work. However, the director’s middlebrow style clearly appealed to his Nazi masters, particularly in his defining film. However, contemporary experts though find little technical merit in Jew Süss to explain its visceral impact.

Moeller, who served as an archival researcher on The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl (a profile of Harlan’s documentarian counterpart in Hitler’s propaganda machine), shrewdly excerpts Jew Süss, showing just enough to provide context, but not enough to reward those who embrace the controversial film’s ideology. The heart of Shadow though involves Moeller’s extensive interviews with Harlan’s surviving children and grandchildren, as well as his niece Christiane Kubrick.

As quite a large family, not every member is as interesting and insightful as the next. Still, there are some strong judgments rendered, particularly by first son Thomas, who once co-wrote screenplays with his father, before becoming his fiercest critic, a Nazi-hunter, and in an almost equally opposite extreme, a Communist guerilla in Chile. The Harlan family also represents a fair amount of artistic talent, including grandson Chester Harlan, an adventurous jazz musician whose music is sadly not represented in the film.

Ironies abound in the Harlan family, but Moeller wisely stays focused on the fundamental issues, avoiding tangents while consistently appealing to viewers’ intellect rather than their emotions. He unequivocally illustrates the enduring power of film, either as high art or craven propaganda (obviously the latter being the case with Jew Süss). Indeed, it is a fascinating look at the dark side of cinema history. Recommended for intelligent audiences, Shadow opens tomorrow (3/3) in New York at Film Forum.