MATT MICUCCI: How did the project start?
VANESSA LAPA: The project started with me being approached by a man in Israel telling me that he had this collection of Himmler's privare writings, letters, documents and photographs and that he would have liked to have gotten rid of them and given them to someone that could have made something important out of them.
MM: Why is it important to reveal this side of one of the most evil men in the history of humanity?
VL: First of all, I believe that knowledge is the only way to make sure that some mistakes are not repeated - whether on a personal level or on a wider historical level. Everything that we can learn and know, any new information at all is important in itself. To do so with letters and writings that were not meant to be published provides an even more authentic and clean starting point in learning the psychology of this man, and the psychology of a mass murderer. This is important in order to have more information and to be aware of the fact that when we come across some political figure with the same characteristics we may think twice before we vote for him.
MM: Can you talk about the approach you used?
VL: I wanted to bring the story to the screen in the most cinematographic storytelling technique possible, so as not to bore the viewer. But also, we shaped the script out of the primary source material - we didn't make anything up. It was very important to keep a certain balance between the political and personal life during the movie. With Himmler it was easy, because this is no case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. His political life and his family life were always one and the same. From the moment I got a hold of the collection to the premiere of the movie, it took seven years. The research was huge and very in depth, as was the visual research that kept opening up more and more ideas, as we continued to discover archive footage, some of which was private. So the editing process was very intense to say the least.
The Decent One is out in UK cinemas. To listen to the full interview with filmmaker Vanessa Lapa on FRED Film Radio, CLICK HERE.
