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The Empty Mirror
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Wikipedia article
'The Empty Mirror' is an experimental dramatic feature-length film using historical images and speculative fiction to study the life and mind of Adolf Hitler. The film is a psychological journey that examines the nature of evil and the dark strands of human nature. The 1996 film was premiered at the Cannes International Film Festival and was released theatrically by Lions Gate Films. The film had its cable premiere on HBO.
Plot
The film is a fantastical journey through the looking-glass of history into the darkest recesses of the mind of Adolf Hitler. In a dreamlike subterranean environment removed from historical time, Adolf Hitler (Norman Rodway) confronts the demons of his own psyche. As he dictates his memoirs, Hitler encounters apparitions of his confidant, Joseph Goebbels (Joel Grey), his enigmatic mistress, Eva Braun (Camilla Soeberg), Hermann Gring (Glenn Shadix), Sigmund Freud (Peter Michael Goetz) and the mysterious Woman in Black (Hope Allen).
Through haunting images, Hitler's stream-of-consciousness soliloquies and exchanges with his phantom guests, 'The Empty Mirror' presents a frightening primer on genius and psychosis, domination and destruction. The action unfolds amidst a streaming flow of archival film footage intercut with images from Leni Riefenstahl's masterpiece of Nazi propaganda, 'Triumph of the Will', as well as private home movies shot by Eva Braun.
Cast
*Norman Rodway as Adolf Hitler
*Joel Grey as Joseph Goebbels
*Camilla Seberg as Eva Braun
*Peter Michael Goetz as Sigmund Freud
*Doug McKeon as The Typist
*Glenn Shadix as Hermann Gring
*Hope Allen as Woman in Black
*Lori Scott as Floating Female Spirit
*Raul Kobrinsky as Jailer
*Sarah Benoit as White Nurse
*John Paul Jones as Extremely Large Man
*Alan Richards as Odd-Looking Man
*Adolf Hitler as Himself (archive footage)
*Heinrich Himmler as Himself (archive footage)
*Joseph Stalin as Himself (archive footage)
Reception
Critical reaction to the film was generally favorable. Ella Taylor of 'The Atlantic Monthly' called it an "ambitious, fascinating feature debut".[https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/ae/99apr/99aprfi.htm "Empty Mirror"], review by Ella Taylor, 'The Atlantic Monthly', May 7, 1999 David Sterritt of 'The Christian Science Monitor' said "it conjures up a postmodern version of what composer Richard Wagner called a 'Gesamtkunstwerk', or 'total art work'".[http://www.csmonitor.com/1999/0507/p15s3.html "Empty Mirror"], review by David Sterritt, 'The Christian Science Monitor', May 7, 1999 Ed Kelleher of 'Film Journal International' called it "[a] vivid, unsettling bold, demanding film".[http://www.filmjournal.com/filmjournal/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000697924 Empty Mirror], review by Ed Kelleher, 'Film Journal International', May 7, 1999 Also impressed, 'The Boston Phoenix' reported, "in its silent moments of visual horror, many of them enduringly haunting, 'The Empty Mirror' transcends its ambitious erudition, becoming a work of beauty and emotional depth".[http://bostonphoenix.com/archive/movies/99/05/06/THE_EMPTY_MIRROR.html "Empty Mirror"], review by Peg Aloi, 'The Boston Phoenix', May 7, 1999 On Norman Rodway as Hitler, Joe Leydon of MSNBC said, "Rodway whose performance as Hitler is a canny balance of prideful fanaticism and anxious rationalization is truly mesmerizing."[http://www.emptymirror.com/reviews_msnbc.htm "Empty Mirror"], review by Joe Leyden, MSNBC, May 7, 1999 Similarly, Peter Stack of 'The San Francisco Chronicle' remarked, "Rodway's bellowing, sometimes pleading tour-de-force is so extraordinary that it's almost scary to watch."[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1999/05/21/DD102080.DTL "Empty Mirror"], review by Peter Stack, 'San Francisco Chronicle', May 21, 1999 On a negative front, Lawrence Van Gelder of 'The New York Times', commented, "Adolf Hitler may have been many things, but it seems unlikely that he was the colossal bore portrayed in the hyperthyroid hodgepodge of pseudo-psychotherapy."[https://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/07/movies/film-review-hitler-meets-freud-on-a-blood-red-couch.html "Empty Mirror"], review by Lawrence Van Gelder, 'New York Times', May 7, 1999 Left unimpressed, Kevin Thomas of 'The Los Angeles Times' mused, "There's lots of flashy visuals as punctuation, but they simply serve to underline the theatricality of this entire endeavor, which belongs on a stage, if anywhere at all."[http://articles.latimes.com/1999/may/07/entertainment/ca-34689 "Empty Mirror"], review by Kevin Thomas, 'Los Angeles Times', May 7, 1999
Awards
*Best Narrative Film New England Film Festival (1997)
*Gold Award Charleston Worldfest (1996)
*Critics' Choice Los Angeles AFI International Film Festival (1996)
*Best Cinematography Fantasporto Film Festival (1997)
*Best Cinematography Houston International Film Festival (1997)
*Best First Feature Houston International Film Festival (1997)
*Lumieres Award New Orleans International Film Festival (1997)
*Medal of the President of the Republic of Italy Salerno International Film Festival
*Best Feature Film Sinking Creek Film Festival (1997)
See also
*List of Holocaust films
References
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