Hitler's Search for the Holy Grail (1999)

A Brilliant Conflict

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

The version shown by Channel 4 in the UK is quite a bit longer (77 minutes) than the version described here which, it seems, was the badly edited version shown on a number of PBS stations in the US. Missing from the shortened version are a number of effects that lend gravity to the events but also - and more crucially - are a number of pen pictures that portray a flicker of humanity in some of those featured. See the original version and you will notice methodology, delivery and continuity are excellent. A one stop shop on a set of warped individuals from the top to the bottom.

This is a fantastic film which I highly recommend for anyone interested in understanding Nazism. British Historian Michael Wood narrates it and as usual does an amazing job! The film covers much of what isn't often discussed when it comes to the Nazis, which is the early 'archeological' work they performed in their pursuit to rationalize and support their racial theories. Many rare video clips are shown depicting the work of early archaeologists who traveled throughout India and Tibet in search of evidence of the existence and roots of the Aryan race. In contrast with many similar documentaries, this particular one has a wonderful classical soundtrack which greatly enhances its appeal. I strongly recommend it!

On the plus side this does contain interesting information over a wide range of topics, particularly concerned with Himmler, the SS and their research branch. It also has some good piano music, some interesting footage and some excellent camera work.However it is a very poor piece of historical work. It has no clear aim to it and the entire thing could be summed up as follows.Himmler set up a department in the SS for research into the origins of the German race. They went all over the world. They did some things and launched expeditions to all manner of places... (nonoe of these avenues were explored, the results were not shown and the arguments were barely refuted). They wanted to establish that the Aryan race and the German people were one and the same thing through historical proof. They didn't find any. The members of this research group were leading professors, members of the SS and therefore linked to the holocaust, and were seen as OK after the war and went on to lead German institutes.These facts in themselves are fascinating but they are never explored in depth and no coherent argument is presented in the program that either condemns these people or exonerates them. Nor does this seem to be the aim of the programme, the aim of the program is unclear, it hops from topic to topic. The witnesses, though presented as credible, are few and unsupported.Sadly this programme does not know where it is going or why and fails to impress. The topics are fascinating but this program tries to take on a huge area of research and consequently appears to not know what is going on. I would avoid this.Also the 'Holy Grail'is the German bloodline, nothing to do with the Holy Grail of Christian mythology except in passing. Mentions of expeditions to look for the Christian Holy grail are made but never followed through. The title is misleading and the content of this documentary unconvincing and incomplete.

As interesting as the title is, I soon realized that the documentary had some oddities in it, that made me question the competence of the crew making this documentary. For example, I found that the narrator and documentary crew spent more time on thinking of dramatic overlapping of video clips combined with dramatic music than they should have. And the narrator's poses and dramatic inserts were rather humorous and awkward. I felt as if a more neutral and simply observing perspective could've been used.However there is quite a bundle of information in this ~1 hour long documentary, but it could've been a bit better. There's some footage here that I hadn't seen before, but none of it significantly contributes to the cause. Footage covers for example Nazi excavations around the world and the war trials.