Information about the movie and the director:
English Title: Ordinary Fascism
Original Title: Obyknovennyi fashizm
Country of Origin: Soviet Union
Studio: Mosfilm
Director: Mikhail Romm
Runtime: 138 minutes
Genre: Documentary
Language: Russian
Year: 1965
Volume: Russian
Synopsis:
In sixteen chapters Mikhail Romm, the film’s director and narrator, explores the nature and origins of national socialism. Chapter I opens with children’s drawings and reflections about the universal meaning of childhood and parenting. Suddenly, a photo of a German soldier shooting a mother appears, followed by more images of killed children, demonstrating the inhumane essence of Nazism. Romm discusses the message of Hitler’s Mein Kampf, its author, his youth and political development. Chapter IV deals with the newsreels of the 1920s and 1930s, Chapters V and IX with the ‘culture’ and ‘art’ of the Third Reich. The cult of the ‘Fűhrer’ (Chapters VII, X, XIII) is linked to the devaluation of the individual, ultimately resulting in the willing participation of millions in unspeakable crimes. The film proves the intrinsic link between the ideology of national superiority (Chapter VI) and the racist contempt for other nations materializing in ghettos and concentration camps (XIV). A discussion of neo-Nazi tendencies in West Germany and other countries, as well as the forces that withstand these trends concludes the film.
Author: Peter Rollberg
Ordinary Fascism Part 1
Ordinary Fascism Part 2