The other day during one of our Keeping Note think-tank sessions, we were talking about how the generation of people who lived through World War II are almost all gone. It struck us as extremely sad that the people of that generation, along with their stories and realities, were disappearing. They lived through something unlike anything the world has and will possibly ever see and the generations from here on out will become more and more detached from the history of WWII.
Blind Spot is a documentary interview with Hitler’s personal secretary. Traudl Junge lived in Hitler’s bunker and ate meals with him during the last three years of the war, leading up to Hitler’s suicide. While isolated from the war completely, she learned to love and respect Hitler as a father-figure and her upstanding boss, never really knowing what it was he was doing. She took the final dictation of his will and testament and was with him in the bunker when he died.
While the movie is simply an hour and a half of this woman, Traudl Junge, talking to the camera her life and experiences as Hitler’s personal secretary, the stories she has to tell and the way she describes the most dangerous and evil man in history are amazing.
I’m happy that her narrative and her experiences didn’t die with her. Her story is one that we can keep for future generations to not lose touch with the horrors and reality of WWII.
Sure, you won’t ever have to sit on your feet to see over the monster in front of you, the seats sort of recline if you push really hard, and the arm rest can disappear making that moment with your special someone all the more special. That doesn’t equal quality movie experience, though.
