Watched a good play last night on ITV, Uncle Adolf , starring Ken Stott as Hitler, telling the tragic story of Hitler’s obession with his young neice Geli. It portrayed not only Hitler but many of those around him, names we think of in stereotypes, as rounded, living characters. Ken Stott shows Hitler’s charm and magnetism, particularly with women, without which it is hard to imagine him attaining any sort of power. And in no way does the script play down the evil of the man – it is his egomania and cruelty that ultimately drives Geli to suicide. Eva Braun, his mistress, is portrayed as a beautiful but vacuous and cowardly admirer who attains some dignity only at the end of her life as she stands by her man – by now a broken, paranoid and self-pitying shell – to the end of a suicide pact. Goebells and Himmler are seen as shady, cynical self-seekers, riding the coat-tails of their obsessive leader. I thought the drama succeeded in humanising Hitler without forgiving or condoning him.
