Set at Hitler's alpine retreat in Berchtesgaden in 1942, just prior to the German army's defeat at Stalingrad, Moloch (now available on DVD from Koch Lorber) focuses on one day in the life of the Fuhrer (Leonid Mozgovoy), beginning with his arrival at the castle. Joining him are his mistress, Eva Braun (Yelena Rufanova), his deputy, Martin Bormann (Vladimir Bogdanov) and his minister of propaganda Dr. Josef Goebbels (Leonid Sokol), accompanied by his wife (Yelena Spiridonova). Sokurov's Fuhrer is not the ranting despot glimpsed in newsreels or a broad caricature like Chaplin's The Great Dictator (1940) but a moody, self-absorbed man whose mental stability is already in question. He obsesses over his health, complains about his sensitive nose (telling Bormann he smells like mustard gas), flaunts his vegetarian views at mealtime while offering his guests "corpse tea," and at one point he plays conductor while 16mm footage of an orchestra is projected on a screen. Yet, despite his increasingly erratic behavior, Hitler's guests remain raptly attentive, either out of fear or blind obedience. Only Eva has the courage to confront him behind closed doors, telling him that without an audience, he's nothing. Within the claustrophobic, tomb-like atmosphere of the castle, she is the only spark of life, a fact confirmed by her first appearance in the film, performing gymnastics in the nude on the battlements of the fortress.
Alternating between studio sets filmed in dreamy soft-focus (at the Lenfilm studio) and stunning natural locations in the Bavarian mountains, Moloch casts a strange spell indeed. There are times when the film borders on outright parody such as the scene where Bormann takes a pratfall at dinner or the depiction of Goebbels as the odd-man out in Hitler's inner circle; no matter what he says or does, the Fuhrer treats him as an object of derision. And what are we to make of scenes where Eva confesses she doesn't really know who Germany is fighting or Hitler's blank response to a mention of Auschwitz as if he's never heard of it? Is Sokurov playing the provocateur here or simply presenting a "what if" scenario? According to one interview, he approached Moloch from a moral viewpoint, stating "For a Christian it's through love that one finds the essence of salvation. But can one save one's soul by loving a monster? That's the question that troubled me the most. Eva Braun, according to existing memoirs, was capable of sacrificing herself for love. Because of this, she was doomed for a tragic existence. She is the main character of the film."
The title Moloch is a reference to the Semitic god to whom children were sacrificed. Originally conceived under the working title of The Mystery of the Mountain, this was the first in a planned trilogy of films by Sokurov to deal with men of power; the other two are Taurus about the final days of Lenin and Solntse, his portrait of Japanese Emperor Hirohita. Of course, this is not the first time Sokurov has turned to Hitler as a subject for his camera. His short film, Sonata for Hitler, is composed completely from German newsreel footage and through artful editing becomes a subtle critique of Fascism. One other interesting fact about Moloch is that it marks the first time Sokurov used professional actors for all the main roles; usually the director preferred to work with non-professionals resulting in acclaimed masterworks like the haunting Mother and Son (1997).
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by Jeff Stafford
