100 YEARS ADOLF HITLER (100 Jahre Adolf Hitler) Christoph Schlingensief, D 1989, 55 min
The last hour in the Führerbunker
Shot in complete darkness during 16 straight hours in an original World War II bunker, the only light source is Christoph Schlingensief's flashlight guiding Voxi Bärenklau's camera through the controlled chaos. Neither cast nor crew were allowed to go outside until the film was finished. Laying the groundwork for Schlingensief's later works on- and off-stage as well as his TV Shows (U3000, Talk 2000), "100 Years Adolf Hitler" is a key film in Schlingensief's artistic oeuvre; enabling the viewer to witness the unfolding of an aura, it is perhaps the closest Schlingensief ever came to Direct Cinema.
The last hour in the Führerbunker has the big names of the Nazi regime on the brink of its downfall fighting a very private war of their own. Gorging, screwing, machinating: the dark hallways of the Führerbunker are the perfect location for all kinds of excesses.
Udo Kier (Hitler), Alfred Edel (Göring), Dietrich Kuhlbrodt (Goebbels), Brigitte Kausch (Eva Braun), Andreas Kunze (Bormann), Volker Spengler (Fegelein), Margit Carstensen (Goebbels' wife), Marie-Lou Sellem (Goebbels' daughter) and Asia Verdi (Dr. Morell) acting to the point of exhaustion, the banality of evil is exposed in its whole obscenity.