Hitler: The Rise of Evil

Hitler The Rise of Evil is a Canadian TV miniseries in two parts, directed by Christian Duguay and produced by Alliance Atlantis. It explores Adolf Hitlers rise and his early consolidation of power during the years after the First World War and focuses on how the embittered, politically fragmented and economically buffeted state of German society following the war made that ascent possible. The film also focuses on Ernst Hanfstaengls influence on Hitlers rise to power. The miniseries, which premiered simultaneously in May 2003 on CBC in Canada and CBS in the United States, received two Emmy awards, for Art Direction and Sound Editing.

The opening of the film features a montage of Adolf Hitlers life during the years 18991914, when he left Austria for Munich. His participation in the First World War on the German side is then shown in a series of episodes which includes his promotion to the rank of Corporal, his winning of the Iron Cross for bravery, and his blinding during a gas attack.Hitler returns to a revolutionary Munich in 1919 and, still employed by the army, is assigned to report on the newly formed political parties in the city. After attending a meeting of the German Workers Party, he is recruited by the partys leader, Anton Drexler, to organise its propaganda activities and give increasingly popular speeches that harp on the themes that Germany has been betrayed by the leaders who surrendered in the last war, and that Communists and Jews are sapping the German spirit from within. After meeting the wealthy art publisher Ernst Hanfstaengl, Hitler is encouraged to refine his image and create a symbol for the party which he does by adopting the Swastika. Hansftaengl also puts Hitler in contact with the citys elite, who include the war hero Hermann Gring, and the militant Ernst Rhm, eventual organiser of the paramilitary SA. In 1921, Hitler forces Drexler to resign and takes over as leader of the renamed National Socialist Party. ........

Source: Wikipedia