FILM-FORWARD.COMReviews of Recent Independent, Foreign & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
BLIND SPOT
Traudle Junge was 22 when she became one of Hitler’s secretaries, serving
him from 1942 until his death in 1945 and eventually writing his final will
and testament. At age 81, she is determined to come clean about why she
never looked beyond the Fuhrer’s facade–their paternalistic relationship and
the tranquility within his inner circle during the war, hence the title. The daughter of an apolitical fatherless family, Junge seeks
office work as a way to pay for dancing school, and proudly recalls having
won Hitler’s approval after passing a typing test. In this talking-head
interview, Junge uses the camera as a confessor, painting the private Hitler
as a control freak. Although she’s admits to being afraid of humanizing
Hitler, one can’t help but imagine him playing with his beloved dog Blondie
or his and Junge’s playful interactions. Her description of the state of denial
and the gallows humor within the bunker as the Soviet forces approach
Berlin is especially compelling. Reich Minister Joseph Goebbels tells her,
“Chin up, while you still got one,” and Hitler’s mistress Eva Braun declares
“I want to be a beautiful corpse.” Her account is an often-riveting act of
contrition. But as illuminating and as important as its message may be,
Blind Spot covers much of the same ground as many other films and thus
sheds new light on a compliant insider, rather than this historical period. KT
|