Hafner's Paradise ( Hafners Paradies ) ( El paraíso de Hafner )

Hafner's Paradise (DVD) (*)

Out of Stock

Original Title: Hafners Paradies
Alternate Title: El paraíso de Hafner
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
French ( Subtitles )
German ( Dolby Digital Stereo )
Spanish ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
Spain ( PAL/Region 0 )

Running Time:
74 min + 36 min extras

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
Biographies
Cast/Crew Interview(s)
Filmographies
Interactive Menu
Photo Gallery
Scene Access
Short Film

Movie filmed in 2007 and produced in:
Austria ( Germany, Central Europe )
Spain ( Spain, Portugal )

Directed By:
Günter Schwaiger

Written By:
Günter Schwaiger

Actors:
Cristina de Rueda ..... Herself
Paul Hafner ..... Himself
Hans Landauer ..... Himself
Joachim Neyroth ..... Himself

Synopsis:

Eighty-three-years-old, fit, and active, Paul Hafner would be the model octogenarian if he weren't penning a book called Hitler For Eternity. Günter Schwaiger's subversive documentary chronicles the day-to-day life of this former S.S. officer and Holocaust denier, now in his fifth decade as a resident of Madrid, who considers his life-past and present-perfect. Schwaiger's portrait of this self-described 'SuperGerman' avoids casting easy judgment. As the film tries to find Hafner's conscience and confront his unwavering beliefs, it also uncovers an underground society of unapologetic Nazi expats tugging at our morals with their kind camaraderie, tasteful luncheons, and assurances that Hitler was 'ever so reasonable.' We may empathize when Hafner finds himself shunned by friends unwilling to risk associating with him on camera, but that fades to a chill when he meets a concentration camp survivor and compliments the man that he 'survived very well.'

Hafner, a former pig-breeder, ruined inventor, playboy and above all an ex-officer in the SS, lives in Spain surrounded by Nazi friends and dreaming of the advent of the Fourth Reich. Proud and unapologetic, he introduces us into his obscure, grotesque world, made to his measure and which he haughtily rules. Finally however reality catches up with him. With Paul Maria Hafner, Hans Landauer - prisoner in Dachau concentration camp (1941 - 1945), ex-member of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War, and Jochen Heyroth - former member of the Nazi Party, ex-combatant in the Condor Legion. 'At first sight, HAFNER'S PARADISE seems to be a gentle portrait of Paul Hafner, eighty-four, who has lived in Spain for over fifty years. However, the image of this mild, harmless elderly man, who like many other Germans, seems to have found his heaven in the Spanish peninsula, soon disintegrates. Former SS officer Hafner, like other representatives of the National-Socialist parry, found refuge in Francisco Franco's Spain. There is no sign of his having any conscience, and even less sense of any remorse. He still proudly raises his arm to make the Nazi salute and denies the Holocaust, even in the presence of a former Dachau concentration camp prisoner. The filmmaker pulls off a brilliant, revealing and sometimes wearing filmic tour de force: a difficult balance between participative observation and deliberate distancing, black humour and terror, broken taboos and lucid analysis. The viewer never feels Hafner to be simply a subject of journalistic enquiry, but rather as a multi-facetted individual, full of life, easily prompted to exhibitionism. The laying bare of his character and the proximity that results makes this film as distressing as it is fascinating.

Paul Hafner, an ex-?officer in the Waffen-?SS living in Spain, draws us into an obscure, grotesque world, until now inaccessible to most people ...

This product was added to our catalog on Monday 26 September, 2011.

Customers who bought this product also purchased

April 9th (DVD)

The Absent One (DVD)

Octopusalarm (DVD)