''Goebbels und Geduldig'' is a 2002 German war comedy

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

about

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...

and

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

, directed by Kai Wessel, written by , and starring

Ulrich Mühe Friedrich Hans Ulrich Mühe (; 20 June 1953 – 22 July 2007) was a German film, television and theatre actor. He played the role of Hauptmann (Captain) Gerd Wiesler in the Academy Awards, Oscar-winning film ''Das Leben der Anderen'' (''The Live ...

in the two titular roles.

Plot

Harry Geduldig is a Jewish

lookalike A look-alike, or double, is a person who bears a strong physical resemblance to another person, excluding cases like twins and other instances of Family resemblance (anthropology), family resemblance. Some look-alikes have been notable individua ...

of Goebbels, who has been held captive and a secret by

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful p ...

ever since the Nazis' rise to power in 1933. In 1944, Goebbels finds out about this and intends to liquidate his double. When the two men meet in person, Geduldig manages to escape and is from now on considered the real Goebbels by his entourage. Meanwhile the real Goebbels is held captive by Geduldig's prison wards and thought to be his own Jewish double.

Cast

/ Harry Geduldig *

Eva Mattes __NOTOC__ Eva Mattes (; born 14 December 1954) is a German-Austrian actress. She has appeared in four films directed by director Rainer Werner Fassbinder ('' The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant'', ', '' Effi Briest'' and '' In a Year of 13 Moons ...

Magda Goebbels Johanna Maria Magdalena Goebbels (; 11 November 1901 – 1 May 1945) was the wife of Nazi Germany's propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. A prominent member of the Nazi Party, she was a close ally, companion, and political supporter of Adol ...

* Götz Otto: Brenneisen *

Dagmar Manzel Dagmar Manzel (born 1 September 1958) is a German actress. She has appeared in more than 80 films and television shows since 1979. She starred in the 1986 film '' So Many Dreams'', which was entered into the 37th Berlin International Film Festi ...

: Grete Zipfel *

Dieter Pfaff Dieter Pfaff (2 October 1947 – 5 March 2013) was a German actor and director. The son of a police officer, Pfaff was best known as police officer Hans Sperling in the series ''Sperling''. Sperling also appeared in two films about Swedi ...

: Eugen Haase *

Katharina Thalbach Katharina Thalbach (; actually ''Katharina Joachim genannt Thalbach''; born 19 January 1954) is a German actress and stage director. She played theater at the Berliner Ensemble and at the olksbühne Berlin and was an actress in the film ''Th ...

: Hertha Haase * Katja Riemann:

Eva Braun Eva Anna Paula Hitler (; 6 February 1912 – 30 April 1945) was a German photographer who was the longtime companion and briefly the wife of Adolf Hitler. Braun met Hitler in Munich in 1929 (aged 17) when she was an assistant and model ...

Jürgen Schornagel Jürgen Schornagel (born 1939) is a German actor. He has appeared in more than one hundred films since 1966. Selected filmography References External links * 1939 births Living people German male film actors Male actors from Essen ...

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

Tilo Prückner Tilo Prückner (26 October 1940 – 2 July 2020Heinrich Hoffmann Heinrich Hoffmann or Hoffman may refer to: Hoffmann *Heinrich Hoffmann (photographer) (1885–1957), German photographer *Heinrich Hoffmann (author) (1809–1894), German psychiatrist and author *Heinrich Hoffmann (sport shooter) (1869–1932), Ger ...

Tobias Schenke Tobias Schenke (27 March 1981) is a German actor most famous for playing the character of Florian Thomas in '' Ants in the Pants'' and ' and the older Jürgen Bartsch in ''The Child I Never Was''. In 2002, he was a lead actor in Alexander Pfeu ...

: Prisoner in Concentration Camp

Production

Due to its controversial nature as a Nazi

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...

, the film was in development for seven years, throughout which the script went through a number of substantial changes (18 different scripts were written). Even though the film was in fact finished in 2000, it was widely tested on international film festivals for two years to see how foreign and especially Jewish audiences would react to it, before it was eventually broadcast on ARD in 2002 after the broadcast had been announced and rescheduled several times.

Reception

German reviewers praised especially the performance of Mühe in his double role. The German ''Lexikon des internationalen Films'' praised the cleverly written satire script and its "enlightening wit".

External links

* 2001 films 2000s satirical films 2000s war comedy films 2001 comedy films 2001 television films Das Erste original programming German war comedy films 2000s German-language films German World War II films Films about Adolf Hitler Cultural depictions of Joseph Goebbels Secret histories Films about Nazi Germany Films about lookalikes Films set in 1944 2000s German films German-language war comedy films {{2000s-Germany-film-stub