The Architecture of Doom (1989)

  • NR
  • 10/13/1989 (SE)
  • Documentary
  • 1h 59m

The Nazi philosophy of beauty through violence

Overview

Featuring never-before-seen film footage of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime, The Architecture of Doom captures the inner workings of the Third Reich and illuminates the Nazi aesthetic in art, architecture and popular culture. From Nazi party rallies to the final days inside Hitler's bunker, this sensational film shows how Adolf Hitler rose from being a failed artist to creating a world of ponderous kitsch and horrifying terror. Hitler worshipped ancient Rome and Greece, and dreamed of a new Golden Age of classical art and monumental architecture, populated by beautiful, patriotic Aryans. Degenerated artists and inferior races had no place in his lurid fantasy. As this riveting film shows, the Nazis went from banning the art of modernists like Picasso to forced euthanasia of the retarded and sick, and finally to the persecution of homosexuals and the extermination of the Jews.

Peter Cohen

Director, Writer

Cast

Rolf Arsenius's headshot

Rolf Arsenius

Swedish narrator (voice)
Bruno Ganz's headshot

Bruno Ganz

German narrator (voice)
Jeanne Moreau's headshot

Jeanne Moreau

French narrator (voice)
Sam Gray's headshot

Sam Gray

English narrator (voice)

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