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To Winifred Wagner's children, he was Uncle Wolf. To herself, he was a fascinating man with warm blue eyes, a loyal friend. To the world, he was Adolf Hitler -- but she was a completely unpolitical creature, you see, and so his public actions were not of interest. What they had in common was a devotion to the works of Richard Wagner. She knew him from 1923 until his death, and probably knew him better than any other woman, even Eva Braun.
After the war, she was tried in a denazification court, incriminated, and forbidden to speak in public. She remained silent for 30 years, and then broke the law in allowing this film to be made. "Some of my friends have been surprised that I chose to break my silence," she says, "but I ask them -- why not?"
It's a documentary that fascinates and horrifies us; a film that focuses almost exclusively on the face of this formidable 78-year-old woman, and listens to her talk. No attempt has been made to provide “Winifred Wagner” with visual variety, and with the exception of a few shots, it's filmed entirely in close-up, but our curiosity about this woman grows so compelling that we don't mind the unrelenting camera. We're listening.

Director: Hans-Jurgen Syberberg
Cast: Winifred Wagner, Gottfried Wagner, Hans-Jurgen Syberberg
Country: West Germany, Austria

2 x DVD9 | PAL 4:3 | 02:21:17 + 02:28:55 | 5.70 Gb + 5.94 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Deutsch
Subtitles: English
Genre: Documentary