The name of the film is important because I believe the producer is actually warning us that what happened in Germany may very well happen again. That statement itself should not be lightly thought of upon. Germany before Hitlers reign was a cultured society that in many ways resembled America's during the time. Having lost WWI and being struck by a strong economic down-turn, Germany's population was devastated. A society living in poverty will look for a leader to alleviate the crushing conditions. When a society is depressed by an economic down-turn they are vulnerable to manipulation and deception. An example of this is the famous Autobahn by which Hitler used its construction as propaganda against his own citizens. He hired 100,000 laborers to complete the enormous public works project. His aim was to help the unemployment rate and thought it was necessary for economic recovery. The construction of the Autobahn was merely eye-candy to the Nazi supporters. They looked at it as a great accomplishment of the Third Reich and further proof that Hitler was turning Germany's economy around but in reality failed to produce any long-term prosperity.
Hitler wasn't the only one who used such public works programs to produce approval from his followers. One example that hits home is the Wilson Dam which was created by Franklin D. Roosevelt under his New Deal program. It is interesting to note what Roosevelt said about Mussolini...
My point in comparing the two shows how people want to believe the government they support actually accomplishes something valuable to society and to be proud of what their government does. The best way governments achieve this is by creating large public works programs which typically are enormous building structures that seem impossible to build. When such projects are completed the people may stand against these structures in awe and say to their children, "Ah, isn't it marvelous what our government has done! You know son, you should be very proud of what your government has done for you!"
It is natural for someone to look for a leader for help and support when they may be depressed. After Bush's four-year term as president the economy was at a standstill with two on-going wars and people began to worry about their economic situation so they did what was natural and elected a new president which promised them hope, change, and economic prosperity.
Are we not so different from the Nazi supporters, who recently been hit by a serve depression, rallied behind a leader who promised them the same hope, change, and economic prosperity?
We are the same and must begin to understand this because the future is not foreseen and what happened in Germany may very well happen here at home.
When our country is faced with serve economic conditions it is important two realize two factors, both being equally important. First, we must ask ourselves what caused such depressing conditions to occur. This is important because, as the Austrian economists already proved, depressions are caused by governments who act to intervene into the free-market and control the currency by creating central banking cartels. The second factor is not to be weak. Don't act like a Nazi supporter by looking to a leader to fix the problem. If the government caused the depressing economic conditions then the solution must not be more government but the need for the government to stop controlling and intervening into the free-market. If we look to a leader for our solutions then we will forever remain in a depressed economy with no prosperity!
We must be brave, strong, and look to each other for the solution and not some majestic leader who believes he has special powers to fix everything by creating unnecessary public works programs. Looking to a leader and not ourselves will forfeit everything good while ushering in everything bad.