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Review

Filled with gorgeous historical images of gay Weimar Germany, Hitler and the Nazis, Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato (Party Monster) have created another fascianting documentary. Was Hitler gay? Who knows, but the story is certainly gripping.

In September of 2001, respected German historian Lothar Machtan dropped a bombshell on the world of Hitler studies. He believes Hitler was a secret homosexual. The Fuhrer's desperate attempts to cover up his youthful sexual history and shield himself from blackmailers was at least partly responsible for some of his most infamous crimes. Among them, the liquidation of Ernst Rohm's Storm Troopers in 1934 (depicted in Visconti's The Damned,) the destruction of Magnus Hirschfeld's fledgling gay rights movement, and the roundup and murder of thousands of German gays in the camps.

Machtan's explosive book, "The Hidden Hitler," ignited a storm of controversy. Particularly harsh are gay critics, who fear that Machtan's thesis could be misused to imply that the 20th century's greatest villain was somehow evil because he was gay. We follow author Lothar Mactan around Germany as he visits the sites of Hitler's youth and explains his thesis and evidence. We examine that evidence in detail, mixing recently unearthed archival documents and rarely seen footage and photos with contemporary views. Then we wade into the explosive controversy surrounding the book, as critics savagely attack Machtan's thesis and methods, and he defends himself in one of the most bitter intellectual debates in the history of Hitler studies.

In addition to Machtan himself, interviewees include: Geoffrey Giles, author of an upcoming study of gays in the Nazi party Ron Rosenbaum, author of "Explaining Hitler" Michelangelo Signorile, gay activist and author Brigitte Hamann, Austrian historian and author of "Hitler's Veinna" Ralf Dose, Germany gay historian and founder of the Magnus Hirschfeld Society. But the real hit of this film is not the interview footage but the archival film and stills of gay German life between the wars. Great stuff...

 -- Scott Cranin