The Decent One Review

The Decent One (2014)

Cast: Tobias Moretti, Sophie Rois, Antonia Moretti
Director: Vanessa Lapa
Country: Austria | Israel
Genre: Documentary
Official Site: Here

Editor’s Note: The Decent One opens in Toronto at Bloor Hot Docs Cinema on December 12th.

I often become annoyed at those that speak in generalities, be it lumping entire generations of people into some terrible stereotype (honestly, not all Millenials are Snapchatting jerks) or ignoring films based on tangential genre labels. But there is one generality that I think we can all get behind: Nazis are evil. The only people sticking up for Nazis are those that live their lives at least Nazi adjacent (I’m looking at you KKK). So the concept of showing the familial side of an individual on a genocidal spree should carry with it a certain modicum of delicacy. At the very least, it should provide a context to its proposed humanization. Thankfully, The Decent One only delicately flirts with this line of the more humanistic.

To tackle this well-trod subject matter, a film must come bearing something special to set it apart, and regardless of your appraisal of The Decent One, it checks this box with vigor.

In our cinematic landscape, we are not want for films tackling the era of the Holocaust. There have been great narrative explorations of the tragedy from a multitude of angles and more than a fair share of documentaries. To tackle this well-trod subject matter, a film must come bearing something special to set it apart, and regardless of your appraisal of The Decent One, it checks this box with vigor. Drawing upon a cache of personal letters, photos, and archival film footage, the film looks to bring you closer to Heinrich Himmler, to better understand the man rather than the figure. In this way, the film at least grabs your interest, for this is something different, words from the demon’s own pen.

Perhaps in an effort to paint the fullest picture, the film begins at Himmler’s birth, and this early section is easily the film’s weakest. Focusing on any adolescent is sure to yield mediocre results, but when relying on the few youthful words that he chose to put in his diary, it takes an already lean frame and strips it entirely. It isn’t surprising to learn that Himmler was like any kid and the bits used are not as effective at revealing some other side to his character as later examinations of his love life prove to be. The childish diary entries and letters bear little fruit and are cinematically dull. There is something to be said for a slow build, but the early years of Himmler as displayed in the film are more than sluggish.

However, as Himmler moves into adulthood he seems to grow freer with his pen. The letters reveal a more fully developed image of the man. A respecter of tradition that already bears resentment for junior generations, his drive for power and status are clear as day. His hate lingers near his aspiration. One of the brightest spots of interest are those letters that he exchanges with his future wife Margarete Boden. Their courtship isn’t all that romantic and quite ordered in its execution, although Himmler does express a softer side in his passion for Boden.

Despite these hints of Himmler as an average man, director Vanessa Lapa smartly doesn’t take these attempts for humanization too far. As the War progresses, his correspondence becomes much more rigid and dictatorial, a feature that is further embodied in Tobias Moretti’s reading of the material. What began as a slow build, develops steam exponentially. Himmler the man drifts away as Himmler the military leader grows in prominence. The Nazi campaign becomes his driving force in life and his family must follow suit.

While most of the actual material fails to live up to the hype of its own existence, the film succeeds as a fete of editing alone. Noam Amit and Sharon Brook fuse the words of its writers with the most appropriate and enlightening of images, elevating the very material they are handling

While most of the actual material fails to live up to the hype of its own existence, the film succeeds as a fete of editing alone. Noam Amit and Sharon Brook fuse the words of its writers with the most appropriate and enlightening of images, elevating the very material they are handling. As the Holocaust becomes the film’s focus, the seemingly jovial communications between family members are juxtaposed against the atrocities of the concentration camps, managing to make these gruesome killings even more terrible to witness. By putting the two so close to one another, it further illustrates the disconnection with which Himmler’s own family experienced these years. The children denigrate the Jewish people because that is what their father does and they carry themselves with such childish glee as to leave the audience sickened to their ignorance.

In exploring these previously squirreled away documents, director Vanessa Lapa has the opportunity to show another side of a terrible person, or at least that’s what the audience would like to believe. In actuality, many of the documents are as trivial and mundane as any child’s diary could be expected to be. Thus, the rather lackluster and ordinary source material results in pacing issues for large expanses of the film. Many of the chosen pieces do little to reveal truths of any of the people being discussed and certain elements of Himmler’s life are treated nearly flippantly. His mistress is mentioned only briefly and his greater role in the Nazi party and in the creation of concentration camps is almost completely glossed over. That being said, thanks to superb editing, Lapa often elevates her own material. The Decent One ultimately does little in revealing the truth of Heinrich Himmler, but succeeds in showing how evil can hide in the average.