Moloch

The first film in Sokurov's sequence on the power figures of the twentieth century. One day in 1942 at the Berghof in the Bavarian Alps. Leonid Mozgovoy plays Hitler and Yelena Rufanova plays Eva Braun, with Goebbels and Bormann circulating around them. The idea is to show not evil but the boredom of evil. Nothing happens at the Berghof. Meals are eaten, walks are taken, stupid jokes are made, Eva Braun does naked calisthenics and Hitler complains about his stomach. Sokurov films the greatest criminal of the century not as a historical figure but as a dull, ailing, faintly ridiculous man, which is a far more disturbing choice than demonising him. The images are hazy and greenish throughout, and the mountain looks more alive than the people on it. The film screened at Cannes on 14 May 1999, where the screenplay by Yuri Arabov and Marina Koreneva won Best Screenplay. Who it is for: viewers who value Sokurov's slow, painterly cinema and films that approach history from behind. Who it is not for: anyone wanting event, explanation or historical information, none of which the film supplies.