Hitler's Diaries

Though the title might suggest a documentary about Clifford Irving's forged memoirs, this is merely a compilation of found footage of the Nazi dictator, taken from both official newsreels and carefully staged “home movies.” Hitler's Diaries is advertised as being narrated by Hitler and showing events from his perspective, but that's rather misleading. Much of the running-time simply consists of excerpts from the Fuhrer's speeches, repetitive and untranslated, while most of the historical background is provided by scrolls that run endlessly up the frame to inform us about Hitler's policies and pronouncements, occasionally punctuated by vintage maps to give geographical context. All in all this makes for very tedious viewing, laced with seemingly strange observations--such as one report that several businesses connected with the Bush family supported the Nazi regime. The Bush reference becomes clearer if one is familiar with the unorthodox views of producer/director Dr. Rhawn Joseph, who argued in a book titled America Betrayed: Bush, bin Laden, 9-11, AIDS, Anthrax, Iraq that the Bushes have long been involved in a worldwide conspiracy that culminated in the attacks on the World Trade Center. Even apart from such peculiarities, however, it's difficult to envisage how this disorganized hodgepodge of period footage and random observations could have any useful educational application. Not recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (F. Swietek)