Of populism and propaganda

This week I came across a jewel of film history. It's called 'Der Fuehrer's Face' and is a short film that was published in 1943 in the USA to show the people how poor life in Nazi Germany was and how glad everyone should be to be Americans. As a Disney production it features Donald Duck who dreams that he's living in Nazi Germany (which is called 'Nutzi Land' in the film) and has to work in an ammunition factory to make shells for his Fuehrer. And whenever a picture of him comes along on the assembly line he has to salute. Again and again. Until he goes mad. Wakes up in his bed in the USA. Hugs his little figurine of the Statue of Liberty and ends the film with the line "I'm glad to be a citizen of the United States of America!"
It is just grotesque what image is given of that 'Nutzi Land' where even the trees are swastika-shaped and the roosters greet the new morning with a loud and disciplined 'Heil!'
I wet myself when I saw it for the first time...

This is what Wikipedia's got to say about it:
Several of Donald's shorts during the war were propaganda films, most notably Der Fuehrer's Face, released on January 1, 1943. In it, Donald plays a worker in an artillery factory in "Nutzi Land" (Nazi Germany). He struggles with long working hours, very small food rations, and having to salute every time he sees a picture of the Fuehrer (Adolf Hitler). These pictures appear in many places, such as on the assembly line in which he is screwing in the detonators of various sizes of shells. In the end he becomes little more than a small part in a faceless machine with no choice but to obey till he falls, suffering a nervous breakdown. Then Donald wakes up to find that his experience was in fact a nightmare. At the end of the short Donald looks to the Statue of Liberty and the American flag with renewed appreciation. Der Fuehrer's Face won the 1943 Academy Award for Animated Short Film.

And here the masterpiece itself: