The Empty Mirror

The Empty Mirror
Directed by	Barry J. Hershey
Produced by	William Dance David D. Johnson Jay Roach
Written by	Barry J. Hershey R. Buckingham
Starring	Norman Rodway Joel Grey Camilla Soeberg
Music by	John Frizzell
Cinematography	Frederick Elmes
Editing by	Marc Grossman
Studio	Walden Woods Films
Distributed by	Lionsgate
Release date(s)	November 1996 (1996-11)
Running time	118 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$4,688

The Empty Mirror is a 1996 film set in the underground Führerbunker where Adolf Hitler and his clan of loyal backers strive to outlast the destruction of the Third Reich.

Plot

The film is a fictional drama set within the scope of a delusional fantasy; that attempts to explore a psychotic scenario surrounding Adolf Hitler (Norman Rodway), as he interacts with Eva Braun (Camilla Soeberg), Hermann Göring (Glenn Shadix), Joseph Goebbels (Joel Grey), as well as psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (Peter Michael Goetz) during a dictation of his memoirs to a military typist (Doug McKeon), while held up in his notorious withdrawn bunker. Hitler proclaims and authoritatively lays down his legacy and ideals while Nazi propaganda footage is proudly displayed in the background as a supporting element and testament to his madness. The film makes an effort to investigate Hitler's temperamental characteristics and to decipher the reasoning behind his derangement, as he reminisces about the past by expressing opinionated observations with the approval of his fellow ruthless subordinates.

Cast

• Norman Rodway as Adolf Hitler
• Joel Grey as Joseph Goebbels
• Camilla Soeberg as Eva Braun
• Peter Michael Goetz as Sigmund Freud
• Doug McKeon as The Typist
• Glenn Shadix as Hermann Göring
• Hope Allen as Woman in Black
• Lori Scott as Floating Female Spirit
• Raul Kobrinsky as Jailer
• Sarah Benoit as White Nurse
• John Paul Jones as Extremely Large Man
• Alan Richards as Odd-Looking Man
• Adolf Hitler as Himself (archive footage)
• Heinrich Himmler as Himself (archive footage)
• Joseph Stalin as Himself (archive footage)

Reception

Critical reaction to the film was generally mixed. Lawrence Van Gelder of The New York Times, commented, "Adolf Hitler may have been many things, but it seems unlikely that he was the colossal bore portrayed in the hyperthyroid hodgepodge of pseudo-psychotherapy." Left unimpressed, Kevin Thomas of The Los Angeles Times mused, "There's lots of flashy visuals as punctuation, but they simply serve to underline the theatricality of this entire endeavor, which belongs on a stage, if anywhere at all, rather than a screen in the first place." Alternatively on a positive front, Peter Stack of The San Francisco Chronicle exclaimed, "Rodway's bellowing, sometimes pleading tour-de-force is so extraordinary that it's almost scary to watch." Similarly, Todd McCarthy of Variety Magazine remarked, "for anyone willing to ponder the specifics of Hitler's twisted mind and acts, there are elements here to engage the interest."

Box Office

The film grossed $4,688 during a limited American release in May 1999.

Awards

• Best Narrative Film - New England Film Festival (1997)

• Gold Award - Charleston Worldfest (1996)

• Critics' Choice - Los Angeles AFI International Film Festival (1996)

• Best Cinematography - Fantasporto Film Festival (1997)

• Best Cinematography - Houston International Film Festival (1997)

• Best First Feature - Houston International Film Festival (1997)

• Lumiere Award - New Orleans International Film Festival (1997)

• Medal of the President of the Republic of Italy - Salerno International Film Festival

• Best Feature Film - Sinking Creek Film Festival (1997)

See also

• List of Holocaust films

External links

• The Empty Mirror Official Website
• The Empty Mirror at The Internet Movie Database
• The Empty Mirror at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Empty Mirror at Box Office MOJO