The 18 minute short “Blondi” at the Nashville Film Festival, directed by Writer-Director Jack Salvadori, follows Hitler’s dog while it is living in the Fuhrerbunker during WWII. The log line says, “Can a dog still be man’s best friend if that man is the Führer? Blondi explores the bizarre bond between Hitler and his beloved German Shepherd. From eating the crumbs under the table at the Führer’s birthday, to living in the confinement of the bunker, this film presents intimate glimpses of the dog’s daily life intertwined with the realities of war and fictitious, humorous newsreels, depicting the oblivious pet’s significant and surreal impact on the Reich.”
With a write-up from the Brits (the film is listed as a U.K. entry) like that, who can resist checking it out?If you are so inclined you can attend on September 19th at 9 p.m. in the Regal Green Hills Theater #4 or it will be available for streaming September 22nd through the 29th from 8 a.m. until midnight to badge-holders.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
On April 29, 1945, Hitler learned of the death of his ally Benito Mussolini at the hands of Italian partisans on April 28th, as well as the public display of Mussolini’s body. This, along with the fact that the Soviet Red Army was closing in on his location, strengthened Hitler in his resolve not to allow himself or Eva Braun, his mistress/wife, to be captured.
That afternoon, Hitler expressed doubts about the cyanide capsules he had received through Heinrich Himmler‘s SS. By this point, Hitler regarded Himmler as a traitor.[33] To verify the capsules’ contents, Hitler had SS physician Werner Haase summoned to the Führerbunker that afternoon to test one on his dog Blondi. A cyanide capsule was crushed in the mouth of the dog, which died as a result. Hitler was expressionless as he viewed the dog’s corpse, but later was completely inconsolable.
Blondi and Master.
THE SETS & CAST
Set designer Alice Gegere has done a great job of recreating (or re-imagining) the Nazi headquarters and the Fuhrerbunker where Hitler allowed Blondi to sleep on his bed during the day. Hitler supposedly spent a great deal of time playing with the dog and trying to teach it tricks, just as some  national leaders spend an inordinate amount of time golfing when they should be working. The costuming of the Nazi elite was  on target as was the sound design of old-time-y 40s music by sound designer Ben Gale.  Peter Greenaway wrote the screenplay for “Blondi” in collaboration with Salvadori.
THE ACTION
In this imaginative short we see Blondi watching Hitler shave, as though Blondi were a small child watching his father in the bathroom. We learn that Adolf Hitler was so fond of the German Shepherd that “to abuse Alsatian bitches called Blondi was to abuse the Fuhrer” and if anyone accidentally hit and killed an Alsatian German Shepherd with their car, it was considered a crime punishable by death. There were supposedly 20,000 dogs named Blondi in Germany in 1942.
According to a report commissioned by Joseph Stalin and based on eyewitness accounts, Hitler’s dog-handler, Feldwebel Fritz Tornow, took Blondi’s pups and shot them in the garden of the bunker complex on April 30th, 1945, after Hitler and Eva Braun had committed suicide that same day. Tornow also killed Eva Braun’s two dogs, Gerda Christian‘s dogs, and his own dachshund. (Where’s Kristi Noem when you need help? One time that she was actually wanted and needed and she and her Rolex are nowhere to be seen. Perhaps she was off posing in El Salvador, instead.)
REACTIONS
Erna Flegel, who met Hitler and worked at the emergency casualty-station in the Reich Chancellery, stated in 2005 that Blondi’s death had affected the people in the bunker more than Eva Braun’s suicide, (which  doesn’t speak well of the German populace’s impression of Hitler’s long-time paramour.)
At various points, small newsreel footage video clips appear and give us more information IN ENGLISH about the dog, which was used to humanize Hitler as a propaganda tool, much as Fala was used to humanize FDR.  Are the facts in the newsreel footage REAL facts?  No idea. But they ARE in English, which was a welcome change, for me.
THE BAD
The problem with this U.K. effort is this: “Ich spreche kein Deutsch.”
Now that I have completely butchered the only German I know, (which I had to learn during my three months spent in Europe as a People-to-People exchange student where I was constantly mis-identified as German), let me translate.  That means “I don’t speak German.” This became a real problem during the 18 minute short, because at least 15 minutes of it (83 and 1/3%) was in German with no dubbing or sub-titles. Was there some secret button I missed that would have translated for me? Again, no idea. Did not find it, if it existed.
Blondi-eye view of Hitler in the bunker.
Lexie, the dog, is credited as the director of photography, which I enjoyed. All the footage is shot from  floor level, as though the dog were filming it (see example above). The part of Hitler is portrayed by Nicola Pedrozzi.
CONCLUSION
If you speak German, I think you will enjoy “Blondi.” If you don’t speak German, good luck. The lack of any sub-titles or voice-over in English is definitely a disadvantage for an audience in Nashville, Tennessee,  at the Nashville Film Festival, but this short’s concept was just as odd, novel, and original as I thought it would be. And the execution—language barrier aside—was excellent.