Too many fans seem to be blown away

People are voting emotionally.

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Honestly, I don't know what all the fuss is about when people say this is a boring and pretentious film. Yes, this is an art-house flick. It's beautiful purpose is to make you think in many different ways and about many different aspects of Nazism; for instance, look how the throng assembles like one of Rembrandt's paintings of the ruling council when 'Adi' slumps into the chair. A very telling reference out - but this film doesn't restrict its references to 'highbrow' themes. In its stylised portrayal of Goebbels and Bormann it manages to suggest the stereotypes of American cinema, which is meant to generate insights into how to view this centre of evil. As the synopsis says, Hitler et al have come to Berchtesgaden for R & R, right? Not much fun, is it? At the centre of this empire, there is simply a void of yes-men who cannot relax in each other's company, who cannot even break out the wine until der Fuhrer has gone to bed, and who for whom every day is an exercise in the most intense nervousness *with no way out except through der Fuhrer's whimsical violent rage.* This movie is one of the driest I've come across. If Mel Brooks was the slapstick Nazis, this is Nazis as 'Big Brother' contestants. So underplayed, it's not exactly surprising many people complain there's nothing going on here - but then, the evil of the Nazis is a strange and unwanted gift for artists and filmmakers who want to get as damn near to Eliot's 'Objective Correlative' as possible, so they can play with a collective, coherent response. In this case, it begins with, "The Nazis were awful, awful people. When did their punishment happen, eh? How was death truly a punishment for their particular evil?" This movie shows, by making fun of them from several perspectives, exactly what their punishment was. When the film moves into the relationship between AH and EB later on, it is further complicated by the fact that Eva is the only one who has even seen what they are doing. Note the subtlety of the exchange which ends in Adi saying, "That's the right answer," or the weird symbolism of their body language when he finally catches up with her in the bedroom. Sokhurov is not trying to portray realistically what happened; he is using the space of Berchtesgaden as a space for a symbolic expression of what Nazism did to the Nazis themselves. Their hell began when they imposed it on others, and they only discovered it later, by which time, one of them was a doddering old neurotic wreck, another one way out of his depth, and still another one abandoned by his old comrades and desperately trying to curry favour. And the whole thing adds up to something ludicrous. I have read on another critique here, that Hitler was considered to be very boring. Well, he can't have been that boring, if you could provoke him to send you to the Russian front simply by criticising his ambitions - but then, the boredom angle is catered for in the first ten minutes with Eva's listlessness. This film is classic.

It's a masterpiece. Provocative and strange. As you watch you wonder what the hell is going on. It's one of those films that shakes up your idea of cinema. It overturns your idea of history dealing with a subject that has been stamped and framed through so many documentaries and films so that you have already have your mind ready made for you. Nothing can be further from this movie. This is a movie that makes you rethink. And it's funny too. As the title suggests it's about evil and evil empires but instead of dealing with their grandiose and terrible projects it approaches Hitler and his cronies by illustrating their banality, ordinariness, and yes, ridiculous antics. There's no way you could describe this film as in some way supportive of Hitler. Hitler playing around with his teasing lover, his masculinity and prowess at stake. Hitler pontificating about this and that with every word he says taken down in writing as though it were gospel. Hitler with his bloated and deformed cronies messing about in the Eagles Nest, up there in the mist looking over his empire of clouds. Sokurov has made great movies and this is another.

In 1942, in Bavaria, Eva Braun (Yelena Rufanova) is alone, when Adolf Hitler (Leonid Mozgovoy) arrives with Dr. Josef Goebbels (Leonid Sokol) and his wife Magda Goebbels (Yelena Spiridonova) and Martin Bormann (Vladimir Bogdanov) to spend a couple of days without talking politics. What a great deception this "Molokh" is ! Winner of the Golden Palm in screenplay in Cannes Festival, I really expected a great film. However I found a very boring and pretentious movie, too much slow paced and going nowhere. The title refers to an evil divinity adored by ancient pagan cultures, and shows a ridiculous Hitler in his intimacy with Eva Braun, his hypochondria and crazy speeches about human races, life and death, and a rebel Eva Braun being the unique person to contest his words. I did not like this fictional movie, the story, the screenplay, the direction and the performances. My vote is three.Title (Brazil): "Moloch"

The theme is interesting. But the "Russianness" of the production, from the actors' physiques to the very "Soviet" idealization of Berchtesgaden is enough to make you laugh. Granted, Aleksandr Sokhurov did have the main characters mouth the German dialogue allowing for proper German dubbing, but even the Berlin theater group's voices are inappropriate for the non-Berliners depicted (Adolf and Eva). Anyway, this is just a small bone to pick. The production, and slow, slow pace screamed out SOVIET louder than any of Sokhurov's previous films. This is obviously due to the its very un-Russian, un-Soviet theme. It's a ridiculously pretentious piece of filmmaking that will taint the director's body of work forever. If I hadn't been forced to sit through it (with colleagues and far from the aisle) at a film festival, I would have never sat through it. As a public service to film festival goers, please use your precious hours more wisely. Skip this boring time warp.