This is a sorry excuse for a film. The fact that it qualifies as one is really kind of odd and amazing. There isn't a great deal to be said about The Goebbels Experiment other than it looks like these filmmakers slapped it all together. Essentially we get History Channel stock footage narrated by Kenneth Branagh. Branagh isn't in this in the least bit. He seems bored by what he's reading and does little to create a Goebbels character. Branagh is one of my favorites in the business and a great attraction to him is his voice but his voice isn't interesting enough to sit through just pure recitation without inflection or much interest.And the film has no narrative to speak of. It has a certain chronological order to the events but never do we get an understanding or staging of the links.What do I make of the diary? None of it really surprises me. Joseph Goebbels was a sadistic screwed up anti-Semite and surprise, surprise that's what the feeling we get here. Branagh's narration doesn't create a character even a monstrous Nazi as we might expect an actor to do.There isn't anything to comment on here. Some of the footage and Hitler's speeches are frightening to see as they always are but it isn't to the credit to anyone involved with these project. I find it amazing that it has a credited director when it should merely have a credited editor. Amidst all the horrible things Goebbels was responsible for you have to admit he was a far more competent filmmaker than the people behind this project.

As an history teacher, there was much that I took from this documentary- the rare footage and selected diary excerpts. However, it is far too broad in its focus; no discussion of the Depression except by 1931 and then, suddenly, Hitler becomes Chancellor. Not only does this approach prevent any understanding of the complex forces at work, but it risks giving the wrong impression of Nazi support. By November 1932 the Nazis had lost significant support (falling from 37% to 32%), and the party was in a state of bankruptcy due to Goebbels's propaganda machine. Historians argue that Hitler had peaked and, with the economy improving, he was about to enter the dustbin of history. In fact, he was suicidal. And so his being made chancellor was for him miraculous, and yet no indication is made of this- he simply becomes Chancellor without any explanation. I began questioning the point of the film, for it so simplified the situation that no indication of why Goebbels is considered a propaganda genius by many and is credited for Hitler's electoral successes. He is far more important than the film describes, but one ends up asking why he is the subject. Indeed, the development of the state in a totalitarian regime is not addressed, nor so many crucial events leading up to war that it doesn't bear reciting here, from foreign policy beginning with leaving the League of Nations, creation of the GESTAPO, rearmament and conscription to the Fall of France... incredible! Of course, Goebbels was not involved in foreign policy, but he was instrumental in devising the rationale. And to ignore the marching into the Rhineland to me was incomprehensible, considering this was Goebbels's very homeland. Some of the images have no commentary at all and so their significance too is lost. By the time 1943 comes around without the slightest reference to Stalingrad, I could only question what the point was that the producers had intended to make. An inordinate amount of time was given to the Venice biennial which only reiterates Goebbels's contempt for foreign films. This hardly constitutes an "experiment" and one finishes the film without any insight or awareness of the man and what he tried to revolutionise (to his mind). To me, the Goebbels experiment was radicalising the people which is only hinted here. It was he who initiated the book burnings. He who started the first Jewish boycott. He who launched Reichskristallnacht. So stale is the portrait in this film that his evil machinations and designs get lost in the times, and he comes across instead as sentimental and caught up in others' actions. My website shows his propaganda ministry then and now, as well as other remaining NSDAP architecture: www.tracesofevil.com

In the fascinating documentary, THE GOEBBELS EXPERIMENT, Kenneth Branagh elicits a dramatic reading from Goebbels's personal journal while the viewer watches vintage film and news clips from the era. Carefully crafted and diligently compiled, the film reveals Joseph Goebbels to be a very human, three dimensional character- equal parts loathsome, and possibly brilliant, yet clearly trapped in a doomed and misguided chapter of world history. Joseph Goebbels was arguably the highest ranking 'non-gangster' of National Socialism's inner circle. Although a virulent anti-semite, and certainly afflicted by megalomania, Goebbels did exhibit a certain degree of intellectualism which was noticeably absent from the rest of Hitler's ruling elite. All historically significant men, and unfortunately, Hitler was one such man, require a facilitator who can translate their fundamental message to the world at large. And, Joseph Goebbels became the perfect individual who aptly aided The Fuhrer to codify, clarify, and disseminate his demented political and social policies. Certainly Goebbels was on the wrong side of history, but this fine film examines his reasons and motivations quite admirably.

This film basically has the narrator reading from Josef Goebbels diary from the early 20's through to his death in 1945. The film is bookended by the charring corpse of Goebbels, though the film reveals his dead daughters, since Goebbels had them poisoned rather than be captured. You learn a lot of things about Goebbels. He critiqued movies, panning The Battleship Potemkin for being too unsubtle in its propaganda (and obviously being inspired by it at the same time.) He thought Churchill was a better speaker than "that idiot Chamberlain". He was paranoid, often attacking then loving Hitler. You learn that Hitler's favorite men were not friends (Goebbels hates Goring, for example.) This is a must see for anyone interested in the goings-on in the inner sanctum of the Nazis.