Review of Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary (2002) by Stephen M — 01 Feb 2008

The great strength of this movie is its simplicity, the very thing which seems to put a lot of people off. There's no melodramatically intercut archive footage or stirring musical crescendos to manipulate ones emotions; its just an old lady, who happened to be an unwitting eyewitness to epoch-making events, telling her story to the camera.

I found it mesmerising and frequently chilling in its juxtaposition of banality and horror. For example, Traudl Junge tells of Hitler's fondness for his dog, Blondie, and his pride at the tricks she could perform, then later she describes how he killed the dog just to test the cyanide capsules with which he was planning to commit suicide.

I found the ending, where a guilt-ridden Junge compares herself unfavourably with the executed pamphleteer Sophie Scholl, very moving indeed. This is a hugely important document and a fascinating companion piece to the marvellous "Downfall".

Anybody who finds this film boring ought to be thoroughly ashamed of him/herself.