Downfall [DVD]
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Movie Reviews of Downfall [DVD]
Movie Review: To Vikram
Summary: 5 Stars
In regard to your your review "Vikram Ramanthan" Jan. 2008
The following comments: "The Russians soldiers raped 100's of thousands of German women. But some feel it was fully justified and deserved of a civilian poplulation which was as much to blame as the germany military." "The Germans said they did not know. Thats a bunch of hogwash. Off course everyone knew what was going on, they just tried to ignore it"
I'm not good at writng but wanted to respond to those statements. My great grandparents and grandparents told many stories about these events. The real short of it is yes many were naive and did NOT know the extent what was occurring others knew and or were loyal anyway.You're lumping the "loyal" individuals to Hilter with ALL the people of Germany? Civillians are to attack the regime and overpower them? lol "Civilians" or anyone would be executed if they would go against Hitler and were terrified as a result. Just a few details, as time and events slowly would unfold my grandmother went on a lunch date with a nazi and in german she said to the nazi "Hitler is crazy" he said "Magdalena if I didn't like you as much as I do I would kill you where you stand". She was shocked by his statement. They worked for wonderful jewish people they considered great friends later discovered nazi's hatred against the jews. They tried to sneak them food which nearly got them killed. Trying to flee the country to get to the US, crossing the borders, hiding under dead bodies, nearly got them killed. Nazis took their german relatives/friends away to dig their own graves and buried alive because they were against Hitler. So I don't know how much you think familes can do unarmed, mostly poor as they were. I'm sure there are many different accounts, but don't lump a situation and think that everyone falls into it that is naive in itself. As a result the way some view Germany believe it deserved that thousands German women were raped By russians? What kind of solgiers were they evil just the same.. Seems you think that's justified too the way you put it and what you wrote. My grandfather rode 1000 miles on a bike to prevent that from happening to my dear grandmother (rape by russian solgiers) and only lived through it because he knew the russian language otherwise he would have been killed before he could get to her. When they made it to the US was a miracle, they experienced their own horrors due to Hilter and his regime and didn't realize to the level that millions of jewish people died and suffored until they made it to this country, and even so the country divided according to them could do little about it, many already thought him insane in spite of that. Anyway to think rape is justified.Yep sounds logical, seems we're not much better today in our thinking.. Obviously there were enough to get him into power, brainwashed, sick indviduals and few that had no choice. Goes back to biblical times, very sadly nothing new and exists to levels even today. Point is Vikram even if it IS as cut and dry as you suggest and all people of Germany are like robots, fully knew, could do something about it yet did nothing..,again it doesn't justify rape.
Movie Review: Haunting portrayal that leaves a lasting mark
Summary: 5 Stars
I never understood why this film caused so much controversy in Germany. It was about about time that the Germans examine their own history and the most notorious leader of the 20th Century. Because the controversy surrounded the portrayal of Hitler as a real human being who could pet a dog one minute, while ordering other people's death the next; or who was kind to his secretary even while he yelled tirades against his staff of military men for their incompetence...I actually expected to see more of Hitler's "nice side." The controversy was nothing but overbloated talk, as this film clearly portrays Hitler as the monster he is. If people don't understand that humans are often contradictory and capable of showing kindness to some people while ordering massive death for complete strangers...then they really don't understand human nature. Just because one shows Hitler as a complex, contradictory human being doesn't soften his reputation. So he was kind to dogs. So he was a gentle boss to his secretary. So what? This film doesn't excuse the fact that he was still a monster of a human being.
The actor who portays him is so uncanny in his physical likeness that I did wonder how people might act towards him after this role. The film is so compelling and disturbing to watch...for the same reason as I remain clueless as to how anyone could follow and be loyal to this man's evil vision to the very end. Perhaps the most disturbing part of all is the beautiful, elegant, upper middle class lady Magda Goebbels who decides to poison her six blue-eyed, blond-haired Aryan children because she didn't want them to grow up in a world without National Socialism. She does the deed with such cool, creepy finesse that it downright shocks the viewer just how much the Nazi movement resembles a doomsday cult, complete down to the charismatic leader.
After watching this film, as great as it is, I didn't think I'd want to see it again. However, a few days later, I was still thinking about this film and will probably buy it on DVD at some point. It is something that should be seen by all and seen a few times. For one reason, reading subtitles throughout the film only makes me miss some of the facial expressions of the various people. I do like that we get the authenticity of a German-language movie about the last ten days of the Third Reich, but an English language track would have been nice so I could watch it in English once while I concentrate on the images and expressions that I miss when trying to read subtitles. Anyone interested in WWII history, history in general, or totalitarian systems/cults should definitely see this film. After I watched it, I wanted to watch "Schindler's List" and "Band of Brothers" again, as well as picking up my long postponed plan to read "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich." This film belongs in that canon of extraordinary work, capturing the chaos of a collapsing government, a ruined nation, and a group of leaders who preferred to commit suicide than face punishment for the evil they unleashed on the world. They knew the Soviets would be harsher in retributive punishment than the Americans. An excellent lesson in history grounded in realism.
Movie Review: A Dramatic Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
A powerfully disturbing portrayal of the last days of the 3rd Reich with riveting performances by the entire cast. Be prepared for an intense, rewarding experience on this one. From the brief documentary remarks of Hitler's secretary Traudl Junge at the outset of the film until the hopeful conclusion, this tour de force will give you plenty to think about long after the final credits fade. This is one of the best World War II films ever made.
Bruno Ganz gives an award-winning performance. He's chillingly convincing in his finely nuanced portrayal of Hitler during the last years of his demonic life -- from his amazingly patient, grandfatherly treatment of his secretary to his tyrannical rages with his senior military leaders. You won't see many performances better than this.
To the credit of the film's director and its casting director, the supporting cast is uniformly strong and gives compelling performances. One of the most noteworthy supporting performances is the sinister portrayal of Frau Goebbels by Corinna Harfouch. Magda Goebbels appears throughout most of the film to be an attentive mother (and political enthusiast) who prides herself at molding her 6 children into model National Socialist wunderkinder. In the film's climactic moments Ms. Harfouch convincingly portrays the pathology of Frau Goebbels' excessive glorification of the Fuhrer and his delusional ideology. Her heinous "crime" against nature will shock and outrage many viewers.
Not surprisingly, the sound effects and musical score artfully heighten the emotional intensity of the drama and suspense that unfold on screen. After the first few opening scenes of the film, which take place outside of Berlin in November 1942, the setting shifts to the bomb-riddled streets of Berlin. The 5.1 surround sound of the incoming artillery shells accentuates not only the sudden location and time change (to April 1945), but even more ominously it then continues a funereal cadence of pounding artillery explosions during the next 20 or more minutes, signaling the death knell of Hitler's crumbling empire. Make sure to have your subwoofer turned on so you won't miss the audible and palpable reverberations that Surround Sound adds to this well-crafted film. The musical score also provides an almost haunting backdrop to the malevolence of the Nazi hierarchy, which in the final days of the 3rd Reich cold-bloodedly inflicts a horrific toll on its own German citizens. These effects clearly signal that film director Oliver Hirschbiegel has made a film that is destined to become a classic.
Although the Special Features on the DVD are limited, both are worth watching. The MAKING OF, while running for 50+ minutes, helps to introduce many of the principal characters of this large cast, as well as provide some interesting behind the scenes comments about the film. Most of the INTERVIEWS feature repeats parts of the MAKING OF feature. The ONLY "new" (and informative) INTERVIEW was with Melissa Müller, who wrote a book about Hitler's secretary's memoirs. That interview is well worth watching.
Don't miss this one!
Movie Review: The Last Days of the Third Reich
Summary: 5 Stars
Oliver Hirschbiegel's film recreating Hitler's last few days in his bunker beneath the Reichstag as Soviet forces make the final assault on Berlin in April 1945. A gripping film based mostly on the memories of Hitler's personal secretary Traudl Junge (Alexandra Maria Lara.) An outstanding yet harrowing film showing the final stage in Hitler's realization that his megalomanic dream of a Greater Germany was in its final throes.
The film follows Adolph Hitler's (Bruno Ganz) mind as he ponders on what to do in the face of certain defeat. The film shows how Hitler continued with his typical hysterics in ordering his generals to fight to the death and not retreat one inch; how he ordered Speer and others to destroy all infrastructure in Germany; how he had little interest in evacuating the citizens of Berlin arguing that they had brought this upon themselves; and, that the only Germans who would be left would be the weak ones who were worthy only of death. The film correctly shows how Hitler vascillated between these extreme maniacal and paranoid fits to being briefly sympathetic with others who were with him. The most interesting is to see Hitler's relationship with his devoted henchmen, Goebbels (Ulrich Matthes) and Himmler(Ulrich Noethen.) One can clearly see that each of them were complete sociopaths who had absolutely no grasp of reality at that point. Even Himmler's idea to settle a peace with the US was senseless as neither the US or USSR had any need to negotiate a conditional peace at this late hour. Perhaps the most convincing demonstration of their insanity is when Goebbels and his wife decide to murder all of their children on the basis that a world without Nazism isn't worth living in. The film presents Albert Speer in a favorable light in his refusal to obey Hitler's sabotage orders but doesn't really delve into his previous dealings as Reich Minister for Armaments for which he was sentenced 20 years in Nuremberg. The film is also rather light as to the atrocities committed by the Soviets in their siege of Berlin. The most touching perhaps were the parts showing fanatical Hitler Youth or other children fighting in block-to-block engagements against Soviet T-34 tanks and infantry closing in on the city. As this a German film, all of the details of the period were closely followed in terms of clothing, mannerisms, etc. As the film shows, most of the German soldiers at that point were equipped with the Sturmgewehr, the first modern assault-rifle to be used in war: Kalashnikov was a tank crewman during that time and took one of these rifles back to Russia with him and modeled the AK-47 after it.
This is a great film as it is depressive. The scenes in the damp bunker with sounds of pounding artillery above certainly gives one the impression that the end is coming closer and closer. The scene where Eva Braun is celebrating and dancing while the Soviets are less than 1 Km away from the Reichstag is quite surreal. The acting in this film was top knotch and the screenplay is faithful to the events that transpired in those last few days of April in 1945. I strongly recommend it.
Movie Review: Brilliantly acted! Disturbingly accurate! Terribly realistic!
Summary: 5 Stars
Bruno Ganz's portrayal of Adolf Hitler is incredible. It is not so much his appearance as Hitler, but rather his three-dimensional interpretation of him. Drawing from tapes of Hitler, Ganz captures his cadence and dialect mixed with standard German to perfection. He mimics Hitler's symptoms of Parkinson's and his behavioural traits with equal aplomb.
This is due also to Traudl Junge's eye-witness account from her book Until the Final Hour: Hitler's Last Secretary about Hitler and his last days in the Berlin Bunker with some of the Nazi party's upper echelon. As one of Hitler's secretaries, "Downfall" is as much Junge's story as it is a glimpse into the charisma and power Hitler wielded in the last days of the Third Reich, even after his suicide.
While some have tagged this film a 'humanised' view of Hitler, it is a safe bet people in Nazi Germany were deceived for this very reason. Surely a person who is perceived to be -- as Hilter is depicted in this film -- the kindly uncle to children, the considerate boss to the secretary and the gentle dog owner is more likely to be trusted than the caricature of a constantly raging lunatic or buffoon. What could be a more convincing persona for committing monstrous acts?
The film in no way glorifies Hitler or Nazism. His (their) anti-Semitic and racist statements, contempt for the German people's inability to achieve victory and debauchery in the bunker while teenagers, the invalid, the elderly and a ragtag German army struggled for survival above certainly do not endear one to the ideology they espoused. If anything, one is actually more inclined to feel sympathy for the millions of victims caught in his (their) web of deceit, hate and utter absurdity.
Like Das Boot - The Director's Cut, it is a dark and claustrophobic film. You get the feeling of what it was like inside the bunker and around a bomb-scarred Berlin. One of the most disturbing and hardest scenes to watch is Magda Goebbels methodically poisoning her six children. Just as shocking are the suicides, either by gun, grenade, hanging or cyanide.
Interestingly, the movie was filmed is St. Petersburg, Russia. Many of the buildings and streets shown in the film resemble Berlin before the war, largely because they were designed by German architects. The structures were also devoid of advertising billboards and signage. Symbolic or not, it was a tremendous gesture of goodwill and reconciliation for Germans and Russians to work together on this film, considering the brutality and suffering each inflicted upon the other during WWII.
The DVD itself comes with interviews from key actors expressing their views on the film. Director Hirschbiegel provides a running commentary during the film. While the film is in the German language, this should not dissuade one from watching it; English subtitles are available.