Blondi, Hitler’s dog, takes us on a tour of Germany in the forties from a dog’s perspective.

The 18 minute short “Blondi” by Writer-Director Jack Salvadori follows Hitler’s dog in 1940s Germany. The log line says, “Can a dog still be man’s best friend if that man is the Führer? Blondi explores the bizarre bond between Hitler and his beloved German Shepherd. From eating the crumbs under the table at the Führer’s birthday, to living in the confinement of the bunker, this film presents intimate glimpses of the dog’s daily life intertwined with the realities of war and fictitious, humorous newsreels, depicting the oblivious pet’s significant and surreal impact on the Reich.” The script was co-authored by Salvadori and Peter Greenaway.

With a write-up from the Brits (the film is listed as from the United Kingdom) like that, who can resist checking it out? If you are so inclined you can attend on September 19th at 9 p.m. in the Regal Green Hills Theater #4 at the Nashville Film Festival, or it will be available for streaming September 22nd through the 29th from 8 a.m. until midnight for badge-holders.

HISTORY

On April 29, 1945, Hitler learned of the  April 28th death of his ally Benito Mussolini at the hands of Italian partisans, as well as the public display of Mussolini’s body. This, along with the fact that the Soviet Red Army was closing in on his location, strengthened Hitler in his resolve not to allow himself or Eva Braun (Hitler’s mistress/wife) to be captured.

That afternoon, Hitler expressed doubts about the cyanide capsules he had received through Heinrich Himmler‘s SS. By this point, Hitler regarded Himmler as a traitor.[33] To verify the capsules’ contents, Hitler had SS physician Werner Haase summoned to the Führerbunker that afternoon to test one on his dog Blondi. A cyanide capsule was crushed in the mouth of the dog, which died as a result. Hitler was expressionless as he viewed the dog’s corpse, but later was completely inconsolable.

THE SETS & CAST

Set designer Alice Gegere has done a great job of recreating (or re-imagining) Nazi headquarters and the lavish Fuhrerbunker where Hitler allowed Blondi to sleep on his bed during the day. Hitler supposedly spent a great deal of time playing with the dog and trying to teach it tricks, just as some leaders spend an inordinate amount of time playing golf when they should be working. The costuming of the Nazi elite was also right on target as was the old-time-y period music. Ben Gale handled sound design.

From Blondi, the dog’s, point-of-view…

Lexie, the dog, is credited as the director of photography. All the footage is shot from  floor level, as though the dog were filming it. The part of Hitler is portrayed by Nicola Pedrozzi.

THE ACTION

In this imaginative short we see Blondi watching Hitler shave, as though Blondi were a small child watching his father shave in the bathroon. We learn that Adolf Hitler was so fond of the German Shepherd that “to abuse Alsatian bitches called Blondi was to abuse the Fuhrer” and if anyone accidentally hit and killed an Alsatian German Shepherd with their car, it was  a crime punishable by death. There were supposedly 20,000 Blondis in Germany in 1942.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

According to a report commissioned by Joseph Stalin and based on eyewitness accounts, Hitler’s dog-handler, Feldwebel Fritz Tornow, took Blondi’s pups and shot them in the garden of the bunker complex on 30 April 1945, after Hitler and Eva Braun had committed suicide that same day. He also killed Eva Braun’s two dogs, Gerda Christian‘s dogs, and his own dachshund. (Where’s Kristi Noem when you really want or need her? Probably posing in El Salvador.) This provides the long-sought answer to the musical question, “Who Let the Dogs Out?”

Erna Flegel, who met Hitler and worked at the emergency casualty-station in the Reich Chancellery. stated in 2005 that Blondi’s death had affected the people in the bunker more than Eva Braun’s suicide, which isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement of the German people’s affection for Hitler’s paramour.

THE END

The following information is courtesy of Wikipedia: As Red Army troops fought their way into the central government district, on April 29th, 1945, Braun married Hitler during a brief civil ceremony; she was 33 and he was 56. Less than 40 hours later, they died by suicide in a sitting room of the bunker: Braun by biting and swallowing a capsule of cyanide, and Hitler from a gunshot to the head. The term “shotgun marriage” takes on  new meaning when  including Mr. and Mrs. Adolf Hitler.

 At various points, small newsreel- style footage appears in English and gives us more information about the dog and its impact in Germany during WWII. Indeed, Blondi was used as a propaganda tool to humanize Hitler, just as Fala was used to humanize FDR. The newsreel inserts are in English, which was helpful. Were the facts in them true? No idea.

Blondi and Master.

 

THE BAD

The problem with this U.K. effort is this: “Ich spreche kein Deutsch.”

Now that I have  butchered the only German I speak, (which I had to learn during my three months spent in Europe as a People-to-People exchange student where I was constantly mis-identified as German), let me translate.That means “I don’t speak German.”  This became a real problem during the 18 minute “Blondi” short, as at least 15 minutes (83 and 1/3%)  was in German with no dubbing or sub-titles. If there was a secret way to get a translation, I missed it.

CONCLUSION

If you speak German, I think you will enjoy the short. If you don’t, good luck. The lack of any sub-titles or voice-over in English is definitely a disadvantage for an audience in Nashville, Tennessee, but the concept was just as odd, novel, and original as I thought it would be.