Downfall [2004]

Our first view of Hitler is of someone comfortable with his power, being kind to his secretary and dog, dictating notes on his success to date. But then the action jumps to Berlin 20 April 1945, a devastated Berlin, a city locked in an embrace with the devil of National Socialism, a devil in its death throes.

The majority of the films action takes place in this ruined shell of Berlin, and in Hitler's bunker, the last stand for Hitler and the Nazi elite.
The film draws from the diaries of Traudl Junge, and Joachim Fest's 'Inside Hitler's Bunker.'
For the appalling predicament of the citizens of Berlin, that are put in the foreground in this film, attention must have been paid to Anthony Beevor's 'Berlin: the Downfall,' that gave that same invaluable perspective.
The bunker scenes convey a situation for which the term 'Hell-Hole' has never been more apt. An atmosphere of sweaty panic, fevered unreality, despair and hate never dissipates, never lets up for an instant, it only intensifies, finding new expressions for its depravity.
The casting, the performances, and an excellent screenplay firmly rooted in the truth of history make this film stunningly effective. The production inter-cuts sudden bursts of terrifying external violence with the violence of the ruptured psyches of the doomed Fascists. Explosions in streets are matched by Hitler's much-reported paroxysms of rage and hate, and the truly inhuman acts of his followers. In one bunker scene, Eva Braun, Hitler's doomed companion and very briefly, wife, drags all before in the manic determination to have a party, dancing and making music whilst the city burns. External events intrude, however, with a terrifying explosion from outside artillery fire that rips into the room.
The casting has achieved impressive physical resemblances to the leading Nazis. We see some briefly as they, the panicking rats, abandon the sinking ship. Bruno Ganz's portrayal of Hitler is a masterwork. A drooping face, a shaking palsied hand, a mind skidding from delusional omnipotence to blank despair, all these and more give us Hitler as a flesh and blood human, not the caricature that can easily slip into the grotesquely comic. And it is this that has caused much controversy and wringing of critical hands on 'humanising Hitler.' But humanising is not to build a case for. Ganz has given us one of the damning portrayals of the dictator ever. It says, yes, this man was human. He understood concepts ranging from kindness to compassion, but dismissed them as weakness, both in himself as others. Hitler was a human being with free will. He used that free will to terrible evil. We would understand the magnitude of his crimes less if we were watching a cardboard cut out, or cipher.
Similarly, his chief lieutenants are terrifying creations in that, like us, they were human, and took terrible decisions that took them willingly into an abyss that terrifies us all the more when we see that capacity as a human one.
The portrayal of Josef Goebbels appals us when we see the terrifying void behind his staring eyes, when we see a human being reduced to a vehicle for hate.
We may see sparks of love and compassion in the eyes of his wife as she plays with their six children, but we see that extinguished as she murders them, and we see those eyes completely dead as she sits to play a game of patience after she has murdered them. She and her husband go calmly to their suicide, because they are already dead.

Eva Braun mirrors Magda Goebel's spiritual death, a brittle socialite, determined to keep up the facade of good time girl, her will dominated and controlled, as countless others, by that of her leader.

Traudl Junge and her female administrative colleagues act as terrified witness, although the film is book-ended by the real voice of Traudl Junge, reflecting on her culpability and those like her for the terrible horrors of that time. But Traudl does escape with humanity intact, and she remains a human anchor through the film, without which the intensifying maelstrom may have been unwatchable.
There are other signifiers of hope; German doctors and surgeons appalled by the regime and determined to save life, Traudl and a boy helping each other to survive and escape the wreckage of the city.

But on the whole this is a terribly effective horror film, one that shows us how the death of the soul can precede the death of the body.


An Extraordinary Film   January 16, 2007
E. A. Redfearn (Middlesbrough)
46 out of 51 found this review helpful

Foreign films are not really noted for their cinematic successes, although a few have turned up over the years to worldwide critical acclaim. This is one of them, and needs to be seen.

The final few months of World War 11 were so profound that it changed the map of Europe for generations, leaving a Germany politically and economically divided until the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Curiously enough, Adolf Hitlers Bunker where this film takes place lies within the shadow of where the wall once stood. It is an extraordinary film in more ways than one.

The atmosphere, the sets, the acting, are all outstanding in many ways. I do not think there can be a filmed version of Hitlers final days and the Third Reich's Gotterdammerung will ever be surpassed by this film. Some of the scenes may be difficult to sit through; for instance, Magda Goebbels destruction of her entire family of six children, all poisoned by cyanide, then her own death and that of the death of her husband, the Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbels by SS Guards. Also, the terrible destruction in Berlin itself by Russian armaments, and numerous soldiers and civilians struggling to survive within the ruins of what was once a great city.

I cannot rate this film too highly, and must say it is one of the great foreign films of the last thirty years.

Bruno Ganz's portrayal of Adolf Hitler is superb. He makes Hitler perhaps too human at times. It is easy to forget that it was Hitler's vision of a Europe free from Jewry and other races and individuals which led to a terrible destructive war in 1939 ending within a Bunker beneath a destroyed city in 1945.

Alexandra Maria Lara portrays Hitlers secretary Traudl Junge with much sympathy. She comes across as a terribly niave person who for some reason or other, failed to acknowledge that her employer was an evil man who denied Human Rights to Races and Individuals simply because he believed that they did not the right to exist within his dream of a perfect society.

For those viewers who wish to know more about Traudl Junge who died of old age a few years ago, there are some good books and documentaries around which will give an insight into her character. She is interviewed on a few occasions during that wonderful historical Thames Television series World At War now available on DVD.

This DVD is supplemented with numerous documentaries, including the making of Downfall, and interviews with the cast and filmmaker.


The best war film ever made   June 17, 2005
44 out of 53 found this review helpful

When I left the cinema after watching this film I felt completely shellshocked. To be honest Ive never truly understood the horrors of the second world war and watching this film was the first time it became real to me. Forgiving all possible historical inaccuracies (Im told Hitler was far more ravaged by his heroin addiction than this film suggests) Hirschbiegel presents us with an exceptional film covering the final days of a monster and the collapse of the third reich. This film is exceptional on so many levels. The cast is led by the magnificant Bruno Ganz who plays Hitler as a spitting, ranting madman slowly losing control of his empire, desperately trying to organise armies that no longer exist from his bunker deep below Berlin. Corinna Harfouch also impresses as Magda Gobbeals, a woman whose fervent devotion to Nazism finally provides the most disturbing scene in the entire film. Credit is also due to the production team who perfectly recreated the fall of Berlin and the horror of the frontline conflict. This is a truly magnificant war film, it bravely shows us Hitlers humanity whilst also exposing the sheer evil of his regime.


A Brilliant Chronicle Of Hitler's Last Gasp!   August 11, 2005
Jana L. Perskie (New York, NY USA)
43 out of 49 found this review helpful

It is April 20, 1945, and Adolf Hitler celebrates his bizarre last birthday in the Fuehrerbunker, the underground fortress far beneath Berlin's Wilhelm Strasse, where the architects of the Third Reich are about to meet their end. The Chancellery is in ruins, as is the rest of the Reich. Six years of war and bombing have laid waste all Europe. The Soviet Red Army is pounding at the city gates, having finally overpowered the German military machine - a vivid reminder that there is little cause for the Fuehrer to celebrate this day with cake and ice cream. Traudl Junge, (played by Alexandra Maria Lara), is at Hitler's side in the bunker, as she has been since 1942 - at the Berghof, in Berchtesgaden, in Ostpreissen, and in glittering pre- Gotterdammerung Berlin. Hitler, himself, hired her to be his personal secretary, and she remained in her position until the end. Frau Junge was nearby when Adolf Hitler committed suicide in 1945, not long after his birthday. This is the hour of Hitler's final downfall.

"Downfall," (Der Untergang), a two and a half hour film, chronicles the twelve day period from April 20 until May 2, 1945. This is an absolutely riveting, historically accurate and detailed account of the end of Adolf Hitler and his infamous Third Reich - which did not last the 1000 years envisioned by the Nazis, but did manage to reap havoc, destruction, despair and cause the deaths of millions and million of human beings. (Almost sixty million people perished worldwide as a result of WWII). Producer/screenwriter Bernd Eichinger, along with Director Oliver Hirschbiegel drew on a best-selling Hitler biography, "Inside Hitler's Bunker," by award-winning historian Joachim Fest, and the memoirs of the late Traudl Junge, the Fuehrer's last personal secretary, to make this outstanding film. Apparently, "Downfall" is the first internationally released German production to feature Hitler as a central figure. Swiss actor Bruno Ganz performs brilliantly as the leader of the Third Reich.

Hirschbiegel paints a hellish picture of the mad, surrealistic bunker world, where fun-loving Eva Braun, (Juliane Koehler), throws parties while bombs are falling just overhead, and meals are served on fine china while starving Germans try to survive the Russian shelling. Grandiose war plans are still being made. Entertainment is provided, strict protocol is observed. Meanwhile, Hitler lies on the sofa in his leisure moments, eating cake, (talk about Marie Antoinette!), and chatting about his dogs. His generals discuss the best methods to commit suicide. Dozens of corpses swing from city trees and lampposts - fresh bodies, (examples to all of what happens to bad citizens), and those left over from the wave of executions in March. Fear, hopelessness and despair cause thousands of Berliners to kill themselves each month. In one scene, Eva offers Albert Speer, the minister of armaments and munitions, (Heino Ferch), cookies and champagne because he has been unable to eat all day.

Although Ganz does not physically resemble Adolf Hitler, even with make-up, in an extraordinarily accomplished performance he takes on his character's persona emotionally, using the same facial expressions, body language and gestures to such a degree that he actually becomes Hitler on the big screen. At times, I totally forgot about physical differences. Palsied, stoop-shouldered, Ganz walks with Hitler's particular lurching gait, pacing the narrow, claustrophobic bunker corridors. Usually a meticulous man, his clothes are now food stained and his sight is so bad he can scarcely read. The Fuhrer had been unwell for some time, and it is clear that now, at the end of his life, he is totally out of control. He experiences violent mood swings. On occasion, he predicts victory and gives orders to move nonexistent troops to defend Berlin. He graciously bestows meaningless positions and appointments on some, and orders the arrests and executions of others. Not long after these manically optimistic episodes, he throws tantrums and rants, in momentary surges of psychotic fury. He rails against his formerly close cohorts - Himmler, (Ulrich Noethen), is suing for a separate peace with the Allies, while Goering, from his Bavarian retreat, is trying to usurp Hitler's leadership. As his personality continues to disintegrate, paranoia takes over and he rages and condemns the actions of the treasonous officers who "sabotaged" his grand plans. With the Allies crossing the Rhine River and the Russians closing in, he finally acknowledges defeat and decides to commit suicide - but he wants Germany to follow suit. Deutschland, he argues, had proved itself unworthy of his genius and had failed to prevail in the struggle for life. Then, thoughtfully, in all seriousness, he expounds upon his planned scorched-earth sacrifice of Germany, which Albert Speer refuses to carry out. By the end of his life, it's clear that Hitler is neither in command of the country he raised to glory then smashed to smithereens, nor of his own sanity.

Ulrich Matthes as loyal propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, and Corinna Harfouch as his wife Magda also deliver superb performances. The film's most chilling, horrifying scene is Magda's final one with her children.

The movie begins and ends with interview footage of the aged Traudl Junge, from the documentary "Blind Spot" in which she notes how naive she was. She maintained, until the end of her life in 2002, how unaware she was of the horrors perpetrated at Hitler's behest. She recognized, however, that she had no right to be so uninformed, so ignorant - that there was no excuse. She acknowledges her passive complicity and personal responsibility as a German.

Subplots are played out on the streets of Berlin - a boy, (Donevan Gunia), defies his father to defend the city, and a military doctor, (Christian Berkel), stays behind to help the wounded. The contrasts between the world above with the one belowground is very effective in demonstrating how isolated Hitler and his small cadre of followers have become. Politicians use the term, "the bunker mentality," to describe this out-of-touch mind-set.

"Downfall" is cinema at its best. It is also a terrible, but necessary lesson in history - one that those who govern should learn well in order to prevent this evil from being repeated. Adolf Hitler has been dead for over 60 years now, as are many of those who were his cronies and minions, yet the study of this man, who I believe personifies evil, never fails to fascinate. I highly recommend viewing this exceptional movie.

DVD special features include a feature on the making of the film, interviews with the cast and crew, and a commentary by the director.
JANA


Outstanding! Wunderbar!   January 2, 2007
Mr. S. D. Berla (Leeds, England)
40 out of 43 found this review helpful

In my opinion the best film to have ever come out of Germany.

The effects, the acting, the emotion - truly outstanding. Based on the last days in the bunker as retold by Hitlers' late secretary Traudl Junge.

Bruno Ganz is powerful as the tired Hitler suffering from early effects of what appears to be parkinsons disease. The acting on his part is breathtaking as he shows what you can only imagine as the desperation and fantasy of a man who knows he is defeatedbut will not admit it and those who know he is deluded still dare not defy the man who led them out of a stagnant republic to what was a strong third reich.

If you aren't a fan of subtitles do not get this film as they are on throughout but the effect wouldn't be the same if it were dubbed and it would the lose the raw reality.

What i found outstanding was it shows how human Hitler was, in that at the end he was feeble and neurotic - paranoid with every minute that passed until his final demise and the downfall of the third reich.

I can recommend this film to those;
-with a strong stomach - due to the quite gory and bloody scenes
-anyone studying german (the language is quite easy to follow in parts) or german/european history
-anyone who likes foreign films

Enjoy.