The Decent One
2014 · Austria, Germany, Israel · 94 min
- Director
- Vanessa Lapa
- Screenplay
- Vanessa Lapa
- Producer
- Felix Breisach
- Music
- Daniel Salomon, Gil Feldman
Cast
What it is about
A biographical documentary that traces the life of Heinrich Himmler, a leading figure of the Nazi regime. It assembles diaries, letters and official documents read by unseen voices, alongside archival footage. The film focuses on his family life and on how he lived with his role in the extermination.
How it was made
The documents came from the Himmler household and were seized by US Army soldiers, who failed to hand them over to their superiors. After passing through several hands, the later letters were bought in 2006 by director Vanessa Lapa's parents, with the aim of having their daughter make a film. Lapa argued that her generation was the first far enough removed from the Holocaust to tackle it. The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, and the newspaper Die Welt published some documents amid accusations of sensationalism. Sound effects added to the archival footage sparked debate.
Reception and legacy
Reviews were mixed. Rotten Tomatoes reports 67% positive reviews from 18 critics, and Metacritic gives it 55/100. Several critics praised its psychological portrait of a man devoted to his family, but questioned the music and sound effects, and some found the household anecdotes tiring. Kino Lorber released it in the United States on October 1, 2014.
Stills
Trivia
A parallel publication
Katrin Himmler, the great-niece of the protagonist, co-wrote the book Himmler Privat, published to coincide with the film's release.
A false precedent
According to critics, the documents struggled to attract interest because of the scandal over the faked Hitler Diaries.
Original Cinematopedia text based on Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.