The Damned by Luchino Visconti (1969)
(Caduta degli dei, La)
Starring Dirk Bogarde, Ingrid Thulin, Helmut Griem, Helmut Berger, Charlotte Rampling
An interesting, if not successful, parallel between an industrialist family and the Nazi rise in Germany. On the day of the Reichstag fire, the patriarch announces that the family must align with the Nazis. The patriarch is killed the same night by Bogarde, who is an outsider manipulated by an SS officer. The murder suspect, though, is the left-leaning brother who is forced to flee, leaving the field open for the power struggle between the SA officer brother and Bogarde, teamed with Ingrid Thulin (the daughter), backed by the SS officer. (SA were the brownshirts or stormtroopers- the paramilitary organization that was instrumental in the rise of the Nazis, but which was destroyed in a bloody purge at Wiessee). The family manufactures steel and eventually arms, like the Krupp group, but should they be sold to the SA is a question, and the answer, as long as the SS is the manipulator, is a firm No. The parallels should be obvious to anyone familiar with the history of the Nazi rise to power and the power struggles within the Nazis. The eventual descent into decay and hell is quite predictable, too. Powerful performances by some of the best actors in Europe ensure that the film is watchable, despite everything. Not Visconti's best, though.
