Based on the title alone, if you didn’t know what the film was about you could be forgiven for anticipating a gruesome Nazi style Zombie horror. Instead Dawn of Evil – Rise of the Reich offers a fictionalised account of the beginnings of a very different type of terror.  

Directed by Urs Odermatt and set in the 1930s, Dawn of Evil follows a young Adolf Hitler as he travels to Vienna with the hope of studying at the Royal Academy of Arts.  Tom Schilling puts in a consistently convincing performance as the unhinged young painter turned dictator.

Hitler pitches up at Mrs Merschmeyer’s Home for Homeless Artists in Vienna and the film explores his relationship with the Jewish residents there. Schlomo Herzl (Gotz George) and (initially) the others patiently try to teach him manners and despite their differences, try to accept him. Herzl famously lends him his coat and then on takes him under his wing; a one-way relationship that is inexplicable to the others.

In anticipation of Hitler’s entrance exam at the Academy, Herzl is on hand to help him get ready, sewing his buttons and even helping to fashion his famous moustache. The Academy rejects Hitler and oh ... how different things might have been. Or not. Who knows? The film does seem to suggest a direct correlation between this rejection and an increased instability in his behaviour. It shows an immature man who doesn’t know how to cope with not getting his own way.

However if the intention was to throw extra light on why Adolf Hitler became the despotic dictator that he did then darkness stills prevails. Maybe no triggers exist. What we see is the increasing anger and unpredictability of the man despite the many acts of kindness from the very people he despised. Following the rejection it’s not long before he joins an anti-Semitic mob and his love of control by propaganda becomes more apparent. 

In striving for authenticity of time and place the whole things feels dated and some perseverance is in order to tolerate the film’s slow pace. There are far better ways to spend 106 minutes of your life.

Running Time: 106mins
Cert: 15