Hitler: A Film from Germany has no clear plot or chronology. Instead, each part explores one particular topic.

Part 1: Der Gral - Von der Weltesche bis zur Goethe-Eiche von Buchenwald (The Grail - From the Cosmic Ash-Tree to the Goethe Oak of Buchenwald) deals with Hitler's cult of personality in Nazi propaganda.

Part 2: Ein deutscher Traum ... bis ans Ende der Welt (A German Dream ... Until the End of the World) focuses on the pre-Nazi German cultural, spiritual, and national heritage that Nazi propaganda related to.

Part 3: Das Ende eines Wintermärchens und der Endsieg des Fortschritts (The End of a Winter's Tale and the Final Victory of Progress) tells about the Holocaust and the ideology behind it, particularly from Himmler's point of view.

Part 4: Wir Kinder der Hölle erinnern uns an das Zeitalter des Grals (We Children of Hell Recall the Age of the Grail) consists mostly of André Heller reading out scenes from the script that were not shot, climaxing in Heller talking to a Hitler puppet on how he completely destroyed Germany spiritually, combined with a satire on former Nazis who after the war made profits from the Nazi era by running a Nazi tourism and entertainment industry for foreigners.

This inventive, exhaustive seven-hour film looks at the rise, reign and demise of Adolf Hitler. German director Hans Jürgen Syberberg, who was a child during World War II, doesn't try to recreate history to the letter. Instead, he places his actors -- many of whom play several roles -- on a stage and has them reenact events based on and inspired by Hitler's life. The action combines traditional narration and historical characters, but also idiosyncratic tweaks, like the use of puppets.

DVD-Rs have both German and English audio tracks (in some parts; in others, German only) with switchable English subtitles, where the moviemakers felt it would be appropriate (on both audio tracks). Approx. 6 hours and 40 mins. See film sample for audio and video quality!

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