Hitler: The Rise of Evil

If you’re going to portray the most evil human this side of Tipper Gore, you’d better get it right. So we’ll hand it to CBS for choosing the combustible Robert Carlyle as the mustached one, in Hitler: The Rise to Evil. But, while Hitler’s life makes for a fascinating horror story, this particular one falls just short of boring. Billed as an exploration of Hitler’s rise to power in Germany before World War II, not many details are revealed about his brewing hatred—especially for Jews. His early childhood (we’ve all been reminded of our worthlessness as humans by our parents at some point in life) and adolescent years are rushed through, until, fresh off of art school failure, we see Hitler listening in on an anti-Semitic speech by fascist Karl Lueger. Viola! One of the most hate-filled men of the last 100 years is born.

Soon, an overdramatic Carlyle is seen delivering a “convincing” speech to a tepid, half-filled pub and handing out flyers on the street. After that one vicious rant, all future speaking engagements are standing room only. With the hold of this story being its self-professed focus on how Hitler took over an entire country, the movie curiously biltzkriegs from insults and speeches that garner mixed reactions one night to frenzied countrymen the next. Hitler’s forever an intriguing subject, but his mass-hypnotic abilities are instead occupied by Carlyle’s hokey hysterics.