in a long list of films about Nazi Germany, this movie seems be an exception. first because it is story of people, seduced, proud, discovering the truth and the fall of a regime who, for a time, was the image of personal success. sure, the critics are many about it. because its ambition is to be a large fresco of a dictatorship. and an embroidery with too many motifs. because it use stereotypes who , not always, are real convincing. because , after its end, you feel something missing. but it is an interesting trip in the essence of the perceptions about a dictatorship. and this virtue remains not insignificant.

This is quite entertaining. It shows the lives of two brothers in Nazi Germany up to the defeat at the end of WW2. It does jump around a bit and seems a bit rushed in places but this is understandable considering the events that had to be fitted into the fairly short running time.Bill Nighy and John Shea play the brothers and both are quite convincing although neither seems to age much throughout. David Warner is excellent as the scheming, ruthless and utterly evil Heydrich. Nighy finally begins to realise just how evil the Nazis are. He even risks taking some books to his old teacher who is Jewish and is living in a rundown flat after his home is confiscated by the Nazis and he is no longer allowed to teach. Nighy's character had believed that having people like him inside the regime might tone down some of the atrocities but of course he was wrong. At the end he tries to get away but is shot dead when he is recognised in civilian clothes by a soldier who tears his shirt to reveal an SS tattoo. I don't think they had an SS tattoo but the blood group instead so not entirely accurate.A particularly moving scene is when Nighy tries to get their kid brother to desert from the Hitler Youth but the boy is so indoctrinated with Nazi ideologies that he refuses. He ends up getting killed by the Russians while fighting in Berlin and it is quite sad when Shea goes to collect his body near the end. This shows just how sick the Nazis were and that their complete disregard for life meant that they virtually brainwashed young boys into dying for a criminal and evil regime.Overall I thought this was a good film which has its faults but does a fairly good job of conveying the sense of fear and oppression that living under a brutal and evil regime must have felt like.

Hitler's SS attempts to show what life was like in Germany in the 30's and during the war, shown through the lives of one family. Two older brothers are just choosing their paths when the Nazi party starts to take hold. One brother, Karl, joins up right away and finds himself in the SA. He also doesn't like what he finds in the SA. The older one, Helmut, has no intention of following the crowd but ends up a favored officer in the SS, convinced that he can change things from the inside.This movie shows the progression of Germany turning into a Nazi state by 'snapshots' of each year, from 1931 to 1945. In 1931 the brown shirts just hang out in bars and push people around. They're simply thugs. The Nazi party loses the election and almost everybody is happy about it. Then they win and elections are suspended making the Nazis the official state party forever. Now the Nazis have a firm grip and use force to hold onto power. Speak out against Hitler and Nazism and you are branded a traitor and you disappear to Dachau.Then they orchestrate an incident to use as an excuse to invade Poland and it's war. And Helmut finds that he can't change anything while he is drawn further and further into the party and it's atrocities. Karl on the other hand ends up out of favor when the SA is disbanded but still ends up an officer on the eastern front. He is definitely not part of the madness and still does not like what he sees done by the Nazis. He resists being consumed by Nazism. Even little brother Hans, who is born in 1931, ends up being consumed and used up by the Nazi state.The whole story is covered in this underrated movie. Not to be missed by any WWII movie buff, though there isn't really much combat.7/10

This film follows two German brothers through the history of Nazi Germany from 1931 to 1945. The film seemed pretty much to be historically accurate although there are a few points, which are arguable. What is different about this war movie is that you watch the rise to power of the Third Reich, the war, and the interaction of ordinary people from the perspective of two German brothers who take different paths in life. It's a very interesting and thought provoking movie that keeps your attention throughout. My only problem with this movie is that it touches on so many issues I wish the movie could have been longer so they could have gone into them more in depth. This movie is more about the lives and relationships of people and does not show as many fighting and battle scenes as most war movies would. If you like a lot of military action, this may not be for you although the movie does have some of this. Hitler's S.S.: Portrait in Evil is an excellent movie, under rated and for those interested in the history of World War II, is a must see movie.