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
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Subtitled); German (Original Language); Russian (Original Language)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 155 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-08-02
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures
Movie Reviews of Downfall
Movie Review: Probably the Most Important Film on Hitler and the Third Reich ever Made
Summary: 5 Stars
This film is a truly amazing piece of work. Historically well researched, all of the major players are present and play their part in these, the last days of the Reich, as are all of the emotions one would anticipate as the armies of Stalin close in on the once proud city of Berlin.
As the battle rages closer and closer to the heart of Berlin, Hitler (and the residents of Berlin) react with delusional detachment. Hitler insists to his sycophants in the bunker that this invasion so deep into the capital of the Reich is all a ploy - a decoy for a final assault by the German armies that will break the back of the Russians and turn the tide of the war. The architects of the Reich - Himmler, Speer, Fegelein, Hess (offstage) and others - realize the futility of the situation and begin to rapidly maneuver to save their skins (Himmler even asks Fegelein whether he should give Roosevelt the Nazi salute or shake his hand as he tenders Germany's surrender), while the personal staff of Hitler and the citizenry of Berlin descend into a surreal, macabre festivity (as Trudl Junge, played to na?ve perfection by Alexandra Maria Lara, says "it's like a dream, which you cannot escape, which never ends"). As the situation's genuine hopelessness becomes overwhelmingly apparent, the residents of the bunker begin to casually discuss the best means of suicide over dinner, again adding to the surreal air of the portrayal. Frau Goebbels' insistence that her children "cannot conceivably grow up in a world without National Socialism" rings similar of other more modern political and ideological sound bites and her depraved subsequent acts look similar to several other cinematographical events presented in a more heroic light.
What truly forces this film out of the crowd of other films dealing with Hitler and the fall of the Reich is its portrayal of the various Nazi participants as human beings, rather than diabolical or demonic entities of evil incarnate. I've always felt that portrayal of Hitler and his cronies as slavering maniacs (Hitler - The Rise of Evil, with Robert Carlyle, is the worst of the lot) and the German soldiers under their command as mindless automatons who shoot wherever they point does history a tremendous disservice. Portraying them as "fantasy/horror" villains of obvious evil demeans and diminishes the historical lesson to be learned, and implies that such characters are easily recognizable. Having lived abroad for the last 14 years, I've never been able to accept that the well-educated German people elected and supported a slavering lunatic - spittle smearing maniacs have a tough time appealing to the general populace, particularly an astute one.
Bruno Ganz's portrayal of Adolph Hitler is almost grandfatherly, a seemingly benevolent man whose hands shake from palsy (the later stages of syphilis) but who addresses his troops and supporters on a first name basis and constantly exudes charm, wit and charisma (at least in the early moments of the film). Here lies the true message and the most important aspect of the film - these men were monsters, but they were human monsters, coupled with minds and visions much greater than the average. Despicable and evil, but, at the same time, great and inspiring. Unlike Carlyle's portrayal of Hitler in Rise of Evil, or Spielberg's/Schindler's List's Amon Goeth (portrayed by Ralph Fiennes), these monsters could pass you on the street and you wouldn't look twice. You'd invite them into your home, perhaps even support them if you did not have history to put them into context. Bruno Ganz's Hitler isn't a man who woke up every morning wringing his hands and sneering sardonically, looking forward to doing "evil" during the day. He was committed to a cause and vision, albeit a twisted and corrupt one, who managed to capture the emotions of one of the most well educated countries in the world. As both Hitler and Goebbels remark during the film "The (German) people gave us a mandate. They supported what we have done. I do not pity them for what is to come." The old adage of "Never again!" has to be reviewed in this context. Have States and peoples subsequently been led to do evil by their leaders on the basis of emotion and collective hysteria? If so, will they again?
Summary of Downfall
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 ShannonArt House & International DVD Video
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