The Empty Mirror is a surrealistic psychological drama film released in 1996.
After World War II, Adolf Hitler is trapped inside some sort of purgatory-esque cave, as he reminisces about his life and philosophies and interacts with phantoms from his past.
Tropes:
- And I Must Scream: Implied to be Hitler's fate. After spending the whole film trying to justify his legacy and the atrocities committed in his name, a white-haired Hitler is eventually left alone with his thoughts, then the walls burst open and submerge him in a river of blood and human bones. By the end he realizes he's trapped, all alone, and can't escape his past as darkness moves in over him.
- Central Theme: Evil devours itself.
- The Grim Reaper: Death appears several times as a woman in all black wielding a knife and apparently approving of all the destruction that the Nazis wrought, although Hitler is equally intrigued by and terrified of her.
- Historical Domain Character: Aside from Hitler and his inner circle, Sigmund Freud is a supporting character. Hitler at first dismisses Freud's psychoanalysis as "Jewish lies", but Freud's commentary eventually starts to crack at Hitler's remaining sanity.
- Literally Shattered Lives: When Hitler finally gets fed up with Freud's analysis of his character, he attacks him with a sledge hammer. This causes Freud to break into a dozen pieces as if he were simply a mirror.
- Mind Screw: The movie is largely metaphorical, seeming to take place either in some sort of Purgatory-like location, or inside Hitler's mind, with every other character being some sort of figment of his imagination.
- Nazi Protagonist: The whole film delves into the psychology of Adolf Hitler.
- Rule of Symbolism: Heavily runs on this. Many things happen randomly or just to be symbolic. Since the whole thing is implied to take place inside Hitler's mind, this makes sense.
