Well, that promise, and the compromises which Germans made to achieve this supposed dream, lasted all but 11 years, four months and eight days. To make that dream palatable, culture became a propaganda tool, and no greater tool was available than the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted mostly by Wilhelm Furtwängler, one of Europe's greatest musical geniuses at the time. Furtwängler and his musicians, who until the Nazi rise had worked independently, without state support, made a kind of Faustian contract with the Nazis. They became a state orchestra, their shares bought out by the new regime, which turned them into civil servants with a steady income.

Little has been said, written or shown about this famous orchestra's Nazi past until recently. Then last year a book came out about the orchestra's Nazi 'life' by Canadian historian Misha Aster, now residing in Berlin. It was followed by a documentary released by the Spaniard, Enrique Sánchez Lansch, on the same subject, called The Reichsorchester - The Berlin Philharmonic and the Third Reich. They coincided with the 125^th anniversary of the orchestra, now under the leadership of Sir Simon Rattle.

The documentary is the subject of this review. It is a worthy subject although there are moments while watching this 90-minute long film that a feeling arises that once again a documentary of this period merely skims over the whys and wherefores of the Nazi period in Germany.

Only two of the original members of the Nazi-period orchestra were still available for interviewing. In addition, Lansch also captured interviews with one musician who joined the re-established orchestra in 1955, as well as with children of some of the long-dead musicians.

It seems almost unbelievable that even more than 60 years later we still get to hear such pronouncements as "musicians are a-political", and hence those interviewed can claim that "We were no Nazi-orchestra," a phrase that actually opens the documentary. This image is being offered despite the orchestra having been at the beg and call of Hitler as well as other officials. It remained so to the very end because it performed for Albert Speer as late as April 11, 1945, when most of Germany was already occupied by the Allies.

Lansch deliberately avoids the creation of a form of black and white, guilty or blameless, sinner or angel scenario. He attempts to let the subjects dismantle their own arguments. Sadly, he doesn't always succeed, and so we get a documentary that is more whitewash than airing of dirty linen. Yet it is eminently worth watching, even if comes short of expectation, and the viewer has to concentrate on the subtitles.

What amazed me was how much I disliked watching Furtwängler, and also his colleague, Hans Knappertsbusch, conduct. Their personal style is old-fashioned, and their movements are unpleasantly awkward, impersonal. They do not transmit a sense of being part of the music or the orchestra they conducted. As for the musicians, they look a bit like uninspired bureaucrats, though I am sure they were not. The music that filters through the documentary offers quality music-making.

As with all documentaries, however, it is the images that are especially important. The expressions on the faces of the interviewees give away more than their words. No one wants to have to admit that the 100-plus members of the orchestra avoided the possibility of confronting the Nazis. Had they all walked out it might have made a strong statement that might have said a great deal to the world. Many non-Jewish musicians, artists and writers left Germany when Hitler took power. Had there been more resistance at home, perhaps the course of history might have taken a different direction. Hitler without a top-quality Reichsorchster might well have been a kind of lost soul, for music was very important to this aberrant creature.

No use, however, to speculate. There is some sympathy for the children of one of the few members in the orchestra, who was a registered member of the Nazi party. Growing up in East Germany it was easy for them to believe their father innocent of involvement. As it turns out, he not only falsified his record, but he quickly turned from one totalitarian system to the other as so many people did who either moved to or remained in the East.

The orchestra and its musicians operated under the protection of Joseph Goebbels and his 'Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda'. The ministry's title makes me ask, 'Did Goebbels realize that he created a horrifically humorous oxymoron with this title?' As it stood, this enlightened patronage gave the musicians not only financial security, but also provided them with special passes that ensured they could not be drafted into the armed forces, even at the very end when old men and boys as young as 12 were sent to fight hopeless battles.

There is a musical moment of shock when the realization comes that Richard Strauss composed the Olympic hymn for the 1936 games held in Germany. Here is another musician, who claimed to be a-political while co-operating with the Nazis, albeit to protect his Jewish daughter-in-law. The choice of composer was deliberate to show German superiority in every aspect of endeavor, not that Hitler succeeded at the Olympics thanks, in part, to Jesse Owens.