ADOLF HITLER: A Portrait of Evil

Hollis really drove all this home for me when I interviewed him earlier this year. And my team also gained some amazing insights into the "whys?" of Hitler's behavior through the course of making this. Nothing that excuses him, but a lot that helps to explain the type of person he became, and the type of society he came to dominate. There was definitely some chemical stuff going on with him, and also some poor and selfish choice-making along the way. There was a spiritual sickness prevalent in that country which allowed him to take hold. What we really do is use this piece as a model for the darker side of human nature; that goes both for individuals and groups. Hitler had a miserable life, and he decided to take it out on a whole world. Do I have sympathy for Hitler, the child? Yes. Do I abhor and condemn his later criminal actions? Yes."

And while "Adolf Hitler: A Portrait of Evil", is due for a late spring 2011 DVD release, pre-production has already begun on the second installment. As to which "evil" personage will be explored next, that information remains under wraps.

"A Portrait of Evil" is the new documentary series by producer J. Andrew Lee which examines people throughout history whom society has labeled "evil". The key difference between "Portrait' and other historic documentaries is the focus: while most documentarians look at what a person did, this series explores why they did it.

By way of neuropsychology, psychoanalysis, recently uncovered archive material, computer generated imagery, and dramatizations, "Portrait" paints the picture of human beings in their harshest light. Naturally, Adolf Hitler was chosen to lead the series.

"I think the most disturbing thing about Hitler is that he was just a person," says Lee.

"He started off in this world like you or me. He was innocent, he had hopes and dreams. All of this was crushed early on by a brutal, alcoholic father. In response to the father's severity with the boy - and due to the fact that she had lost four other children - his mother babied him. There were some major mixed signals going on in that home, a lot of violence, a lot of emptiness. This was compounded by the death of Hitler's little brother. That really seems to have pushed him over the edge, or very close to it. And there's so much more. All in all, Hitler had a very rough early life experience."

Asked if Hitler's later behavior can be excused due to his tragic childhood, Lee responds:

"We're all accountable for our actions. I heard that growing up a lot, and as I've finally grown up to some degree, I see that it has to be that way for society to function. There definitely has to be a line. Hitler was in full grasp of his faculties when he attacked and murdered; I don't care what his internal justifications were. How many other people have suffered terribly and turned out to be loving people? Millions, probably. Hell, who hasn't suffered? Dr.