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The Most Popular German Movie In The World

You may have noticed the YouTube meme where fake subtitles are added to a movie clip about Hitler, making it seem like he’s ranting about the latest pop-culture outrage (Kanye/Taylor; Jay/Conan). The clip is from the 2004 movie Der Untergang (Downfall) starring Bruno Ganz as the demented dictator in his last days. It was the first German movie in a long time to have Hitler portrayed onscreen, and there was a lot of controversy over whether it was right for a German filmmaker to make a movie that “humanized” Hitler. But from the point of view of YouTube video makers, it’s a godsend, because it provides high-resolution widescreen clips of Hitler screaming and yelling. And that’s how he became the world’s favourite cultural commentator.

These videos are much better when, as in the example below, Hitler is actually Hitler, getting upset about some kind of pop-culture issue; when he’s portrayed as being Hillary Clinton or Stephen Harper, it’s just offensive and not funny.

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.4452855&w=560&h=340&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26]

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