Selling Hitler: Episode 1 (1991)

 

I’m all for a good biopic or major historical drama.  It’s interesting to see historical figures and events dramatized, and to contemplate how the real deal was truncated, expanded, or sugar-coated for cinematic purposes.  But I also really enjoy films (or in this case, TV miniseries) about historical subjects I know very little about.  Case in point:  Argo. 

 

But today’s post isn’t about Argo.  Fine film though it is, PC isn’t in it, and we’re still in Capaldi Winter.  No, today we’re beginning with the first episode of Selling Hitler, a five-part miniseries about the 1980s hoax of the “Hitler diaries.”  At the heart of the story is Gerd Heidemann, a German magazine writer and collector of WWII paraphernalia.  Hearing whispers of Hitler’s long-lost journals, Gerd sets out on a consuming mission to recover the books.

 

The boss, sick of Gerd’s perpetual Nazi stories, isn’t keen to put up any time or money toward the search.  Instead, Gerd is helped by PC’s Thomas Walde, from the magazine’s historical department.  With Gerd providing the legwork and Thomas procuring the funds, the two pursue their white whale for very different reasons.

 

I don’t have too much of a feel for Thomas yet.  So far, the most interesting thing about him is the fact that he doesn’t actually believe in the diaries’ existence.  While Gerd can barely contain his excitement at the mere thought, Thomas thinks the whole business is just a legend.  He intends to be the man to refute all the nut-jobs when he follows the trail to a dead end.  Given what actually ends up happening, it seems he has the right idea.  We’ll see whether or not he gets sucked into the hoax in the coming episodes.

 

Alexei Sayle, who we saw recently, has a featured part in the series.  More importantly, it stars Jonathan Pryce and also includes Tom Baker.  If we count David Tennant in “The Fires of Pompeii,” that makes four Doctors PC worked with before being cast as Twelve; he gets around!

 

Accent

 

Everyone in this piece speaks the Queen’s German, so we have U.K. accents all around.  PC, however, is the only Scot so far.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – Maybe.  It’s very clearly a product of its time, but the story is interesting and there are some good performances.  I’ll keep you posted.

 

PC-wise – Quite possibly.  Thomas seems poised to be a major character; let’s see what he gets up to in the days to come.

 

Warnings

 

Gerd meets a number of men from “the old days,” (i.e. former Nazis,) and their party talk is rather discomfiting.