Perhaps if this diminutive propaganda minister hadn't been such an outcast as a youth, he wouldn't have grown up to be such a jerk. The Goebbels Experiment is definitely worth your time if you're into WWII history, and hope to learn what might have made some of these villains tick. Kenneth Branagh lends his voice to an hour and a half of diary entries from Joseph Goebbels, a would-be novelist, poet, propagandist, and fascist anti-Semite who rose from obscurity along with Hitler, and helped his fuhrer terrorize a great many people. We learn of his painful and lonely childhood marred by crippling polio and then being shunned by his schoolmates. We hear the angst felt by many during the Weimar years, and the antisemitism pooling inside him. By the early 1920s, Goebbels has fallen under Hitler's spell, and the two men's destinies are intertwined for the rest of their lives... until their brutal suicides.Anyone looking for insight into the cause of this man's hatred of Jews won't find much. Antisemitism in Europe hardly began with the Third Reich, and didn't end with it either. The bulk of this film centers around squabbles within the party, and Goebbels' ideas of what make good or bad propaganda. Despite his extramarital affairs (which he only hints at), Goebbels still attempts to portray himself as the quintessential German family man. With WWII raging around him, he still lives the high life by hobnobbing with actors, traveling to swanky Paris and Venice, all the while enjoying the power his position has afforded him. The journal entries turn noticeably pessimistic and more urgent, from the moment he mentions reading a letter from a commander on the eastern front. Suddenly, the fortunes of war seem to be turning. Not much in the way of specific battles are mentioned. Again, this is not exactly a blow- by-blow account off the war. Just the musings of one of the key players. His relationship with Hitler starts as some sort of a man-crush, then goes through a phase of distrust, then ultimately ends up trying to reason with him over mistakes he has made fighting the war. Goebbels also claims to be one of the few Nazi leaders respected by their soldiers on the battlefield.From the time he hears of the trouble in Russia, Goebbels can most likely guess that his future, and that of the people closest to him, looks quite dark indeed. Still he urges the German people to fight on, and many do... until the very end. And we see this end in graphic detail. Do we the audience feel in any way sorry for him? Maybe for his family, but the words of this man deserve a harsh punishment. And they must never be forgotten. The Goebbels experiment is worth your time. A good blend of newsreel footage, speeches, and an inside look at one of the most notorious figures of perhaps the most evil regime of all time. 8 of 10 stars.The Hound.

Everyone once in a while a film comes along that people need to see. This is especially true concerning events of global consequence, Nazi Germany most specifically. And while films such as Schindler's List are invaluable in personalizing the tragedy of millions, they are emotionally based, as they should be. But what "The Goebbels Experiment" does is that it makes us think about why and how one man (and so many others) could come to bring about and participate in atrocities. The film doesn't talk much about the nature of the propaganda itself -- it's not a legit documentary about Goebbels, but a strict series of readings from his diaries -- but to hear Goebbels talking, we can hear echoes of the terrible propagandists that have brought about so much disaster in the years since. There is much to be learned from this film, particularly in seeing up close what could make a human being into a monster. It happens easier and more often than you'd think, and this film, while sometimes a bit dull and one-dimensional, does accomplish that purpose. You don't have to be an expert on World War II or Nazi Germany to appreciate the film, but it does help provide contextual understanding. I think this is a worthwhile film along the lines of any film about the Third Reich; the lessons must be learned, and the intervening years have proved just how much we have failed to learn them.

I was really hoping this film would give some real insight to the life of a very complex and horrible person. Unfortunately, it is, for the most part, a chronological retelling of events. It tells you little about his early life, his switch from socialist to Nazi, next to nothing about his joining and rise in the Nazi party, his reaction to events like the Putsch, the Battle of Britain, Stalingrad, the assassination attempt on Hitler. It gives no information about the making of films like "the Eternal Jew" or any of the inner workings at UFA studios. It does show his dislike of Reifenstahl and then, subsequent fawning over her when giving an award, but the commentary is very limited.I understand they wanted to limit it to his diary entries but they just aren't enough to give a full perspective on Goebbels. No mention is made of his families' and his deaths (portrayed so well in "Downfall") and nothing of his life in the bunker. Too many gaps, way too much left out. There are some interesting comments about his mistrust and jealousies with Himmler and Goering, but all stuff that has been well reported elsewhere. Some of the footage is interesting including pieces I haven't seen before, but really not much that is of an informal nature. If you're hoping to gain more perspective on why someone would do what he did, or even the inner workings of Nazi Germany, sadly you might as well skip this film.

My complaints here concern the movie's pacing and the material at hand. While using archival film and letters lends the film a fresh and interesting perspective, too often the material selected to highlight simply isn't very interesting (such as when Goebbels complains about this or that ailment, &tc., or the ad nauseam footage of his small German hometown). Also, the movie crawls along in covering c. 1920-1939 and then steams through the war years. In sum, the film is little better than a History Channel documentary, with the exception that the filmmaker has a slightly greater sensibility than your average History Channel documentary editor and thus can more artfully arrange the details of Goebbels' life. Still, I found it wanting.