Downfall
by Oliver Hirschbiegel
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Alexandra Maria Lara, Bruno Ganz, Corinna Harfouch, Juliane K?hler, Ulrich MatthesDirector: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Brand: GANZ,BRUNO
Producer: Bernd Eichinger
Writer: Bernd Eichinger
Producer: Christine Rothe
Producer: Doris J. Heinze
Writer: Joachim Fest
Writer: Melissa M?ller
Writer: Traudl Junge
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: German (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Russian (Original Language); English (Subtitled)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 156 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-08-02
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures
Movie Reviews of Downfall
Movie Review: A Dangerous Film
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the story of the final days of the Third Reich and Adolf Hitler. The film is based on two books written by people who were in the bunker with Hitler and his staff. It is a brilliantly crafted film, however it posits one nearly unthinkably theory.
Hitler was a human being.
Stunning as it is, I can find no evidence to support the fact that Hitler was an alien, cyborg, or an otherwise mythical creature from the bowels of hell. He was a human being, filled with absolute hatred who gained the power to direct his hate outwards at the entire world.
But he was a human being. This film alternates Hitler as he descends into his final moments. We see the defiant leader, the hate filled genocidal maniac, the acceptance of the failure of the Reich, and then back through all three. Interspersed we meet the other cast of people around him in his final days. We see moments of vulnerability as the Goerbles children serenade "Uncle Adolf" on his birthday. We see the sadness in his eyes when he poisons his dog shortly before ending his own life. A sadness that never comes within a whisper of his face when he orders the extermination of MILLIONS of Europeans.
It is an odd juxtaposition to see Hitler as a kind, soft spoken man around the "family" in the bunker and the violent bouts of rage when the loss of the war is crashing down upon him. Bruno Ganz does a flawless portrayal of the Fuerher in this film and his work should be acknowledged.
Anyway, this is a terrific film for anyone who wants to see inside the Reich. I would love to see the creator of this film go back and make a HBO style mini series about the rise of the Nazi party. I believe it would be important, and this crew would be able to take the story out of the basic textbook stage of "Nazis are evil, let us hate at them." to a more productive "A small group of people gained power in a ravaged nation and used fear and hatred in an attempt to take over the world and wipe races of people off of the earth. While many in the power structure were pure evil, some were simply lazy and chose not to look at what they were doing and others were too slow witted to realize they were lock step with pure evil." Because as we all know, those who do not know history are destined to repeat it.
T
Summary of Downfall
Dramatizes the final days of Hitler and his inner circle.Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 3-APR-2007
Media Type: DVD
The riveting subject of Downfall is nothing less than the disintegration of Adolf Hitler in mind, body, and soul. A 2005 Academy Award nominee for best foreign language film, this German historical drama stars Bruno Ganz (Wings of Desire) as Hitler, whose psychic meltdown is depicted in sobering detail, suggesting a fallen, pathetic dictator on the verge on insanity, resorting to suicide (along with Eva Braun and Joseph and Magda Goebbels) as his Nazi empire burns amidst chaos in mid-1945. While staging most of the film in the claustrophobic bunker where Hitler spent his final days, director Oliver Hirschbiegel (Das Experiment) dares to show the gentler human side of der Fuehrer, as opposed to the pure embodiment of evil so familiar from many other Nazi-era dramas. This balanced portrayal does not inspire sympathy, however: We simply see the complexity of Hitler's character in the greater context of his inevitable downfall, and a more realistic (and therefore more horrifying) biographical portrait of madness on both epic and intimate scales. By ending with a chilling clip from the 2002 documentary Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary, this unforgettable film gains another dimension of sobering authenticity. --Jeff Shannon
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