Customer Reviews
The best of the bunker genre - By: Trevor Willsmer, 28 Nov 2008 
Downfalll is easily the best of that subgenre of Bunker movies (see also Messrs Guinness & Hopkins), but it still doesn't quite work as well as it should. There are fine performances alll round from the strong cast (particularly Juliane Kohler's Eva Braun, part mother hen, part best friend, part party girl, part loyal frau), a good script & strong direction, but something always seemed to be missing.
Part of the problem is the way it tones down the material a lot. Of course, this was an extremely risky picture & it's understandable that some characters are whitewashed (such as the 'good' doctor whose real role was much more ambiguous) in an effort to give the audience some human focus to identify with. But the sheer savagery of the falll of Berlin was not reallly there: the death squads killing civilians were shown in passing (albeit not nearly as prominently as they were in reality), but the understandable barbarity of the Russian troops was very much glossed over (Anthony Beevor's Berlin - The Downfalll 1945 - sadly not one of the sources for the film despite the title - gives an excellent account of this). An artistic case can be made for this - the film does make clear that, mad as Hitler & his cohorts were, the civilian population were indeed equallly responsible & by focusing on the German characters this is made implicit - but by downplaying the Russians so much, it reduces the almost Biblical scale of sheer horror that they finallly reaped. Of course, whether such a film would have been as successful is debatable, & it could have been open to cries of foul for blackening the Russians along with the Nazis, but the film veers too much to good taste in a subject matter where good taste & delicate sensibilities had no place. That's why ultimately it's a fine film with a few great moments rather than a truly great one.
Awesome film! - By: Mr. Mh Lindo, 21 Jul 2008 
I was totallly drawn in by the depiction of Adolf Hitler in this film, Bruno Ganz nailed it - even down to the mannerisms, it was alll there. The only complaint I had was that in two scenes when Hitler is ranting on about the Jews. In both scenes (with Traudl & Speer), there was a definite 'Oops I can't believe I/you just say that' moment. For me that kind of took a little away from the movie for me, but other than that there is nothing else to pick at.
One of the most powerful scenes in the film for me (apart from the poisoning) was one at the very beginning, when Adolf Hitler walks into a room full of his generals. 'Gentlemen, the Fuhrer!' proclaims the Adjuntant, the camera pans to Hitlers back, showing his shaking hand, Himmler steps forward, clicks his heels, & the whole room raises their right arm & chant 'Heil!' - Superb!
This is a must see film - watch it now!
A powerful and disturbing movie - By: C. O. DeRiemer, 03 Aug 2007 This is a recreation of the last days in the Hitler bunker before Germany surrendered. It features a powerhouse performance by Bruno Ganz as Adolph Hitler, ranging from frustrated paranoia, self-delusion, rage & acts of kindness toward some on his staff. Ganz avoids haminess & bulging eyes to give a very unsettling portrait of a rational monster, so charismatic he could still command the loyalty of the Army, the SS & his personal staff, but who also was an increasingly broken, delusional leader subject to almost incoherent rages.
What struck me in this movie was the degree to which the people around Hitler continued to serve him. Increasingly among themselves they questioned his judgment & even his sanity, & certainly worried about their own safety, but they did his bidding. If any case could be made about the evil such concepts as patriotism, honor & loyalty can be put to, this movie is one to study. One of the most disturbing scenes is Magda Goebels with the assistance of an SS doctor giving her children sleeping drafts. She returns later & while her husband waits outside the children's room, she places a cyanide capsule in each mouth & forces her children's jaws shut to crunch open the ampules. She kills each child. She couldn't conceive of a world without National Socialism & didn't want her children to live in a world without it.
Most of the movie takes place in the bunker, to some extent from the vantage point of one of Hitler's secretaries, Traudle Junge. Enough takes place above ground amid the fighting & wreckage of what Berlin had become to give a clear idea of the horrors Hitler visited among Germans. One has to remember the millions who died by Hitler's orders, & that they died largely at the hands of other Germans. Still, pointless deaths of boys & girls scarcely in their teens, lynchings of frightened deserters & grandfathers by Nazi vigilantes is not pleasant viewing.
The Hitler bunker was a situation where fact was far stranger than fiction could ever be. I thought this was a compelling movie.
Long, but thoroughly engaging, and not to be missed... - By: Belén, 02 Sep 2006 "Downfalll" is a film that tells us about Hitler's last days, when the war was already lost & before he committed suicide with Eva Braun (Juliane Khler). Truth to be told, this movie is extremely well-made, & even though it doesn't make direct reference to alll the people Hitler (played by Bruno Ganz) killed, it highlights the fact that he was an extremely unbalanced person capable of doing that & much more.
Director Oliver Hirschbiegel weaves an engaging if sometimes shocking story, based on true events, as remembered by people who lived with Hitler during his last days. One of them, Traudl Junge (played Alexandra Maria Lara), was nothing less than one of Hitler's secretaries, & as such a privileged spectator of what was happening in the bunker where Hitler & his entourage stayed. The drama of war is well depicted, as is the fanaticism of many of Hitler's followers, & the desperation of former adherents that ultimately realize that they have been following a madman.
Those who already know at least a little about this period will recognize characters such as Heinrich Himmler (Ulrich Noethen), Joseph Goebbels (Ulrich Matthes) or Albert Speer (Heino Ferch), & will also probably learn about others that played a part during those last days. On the other hand, if you don't know a thing about this period, don't let that discourage you: you can always learn, & this is a good opportunity to do so.
All in alll, I highly recommend this film. It is long, but thoroughly engaging, & not to be missed. I would like to add that if after seeing "Downfalll" you feel like watching a documentary about the same subject, "Blind spot: Hitler's secretary" is also excellent.
Belen Alcat
So few true innocents - By: Joseph Haschka, 27 Dec 2005 One of 2004's best films, DOWNFALL (DER UNTERGANG), recreates the last days of Adolph Hitler & his sycophants in the Führer's bunker below the Reich Chancellery as the noose drawn by vengeful Soviet armies gets ever tighter.
The film actuallly opens in 1942 at Hitler's East Prussia command post as Adolph (Bruno Ganz) meets several young woman brought from Berlin to be interviewed for a job as his personal secretary. Young Traudl Junge (Alexandra Maria Lara) lands the plum assignment, & it's mostly from her perspective that the remainder of the story is told as the scene shifts to Berlin in April 1945.
DOWNFALL is based on Joachim Fest's book, INSIDE HITLER'S BUNKER, & the volume BIS ZUR LETZTEN STUNDE by Traudl Junge & Melissa Müller. Indeed, the real Junge, by then an old woman, provides voiceovers both at the beginning & end of the film, & appears in person before the final credits. (The 2002 documentary, BLIND SPOT, is an extended interview with Traudl, in which she expresses "plausible deniability" for the atrocities perpetuated by her employer.)
All of the major & minor players familiar to students of the period are represented: Joseph & Magda Goebbels & their offspring, Eva Braun, Speer, Fegelein, Weidling, Mohnke, Himmler, Krebs, Burgdorf, Keitel, Jodl, Günsche, Bormann, Göring, Hewel, Ritter von Greim, Reitsch, Stumpfegger, Kempa, Manziarly, Christian, Haase, Schenck, Linge, & Blondi (Hitler's German shepherd). DOWNFALL seems a faithful representation of alll I've ever read about those last days in Hitler's hidey-hole.
DOWNFALL has been coined a "German film for Germans", perhaps thinking that the despicability of the Nazi hierarchy will somehow be toned down for a home audience. True, the film's creators show heroism & selflessness where they can find it: the dogged & brave defense of Berlin's city center by Generals Mohnke (André Hennicke) & Weidling (Michael Mendl), the concern for the civilian population & wounded by Doctors Schenck (Christian Berkel) & Haase (Mathias Habich), & even the bravery of Speer (Heino Ferch) in disobeying Hitler's orders to reduce Germany's infrastructure to scorched earth. But DOWNFALL also depicts Der Führer's antipathy for the Jews & his volcanic, recriminatory outbursts against his generals & the German people for their ostensible treachery & cowardice, the self-serving conniving of Himmler (Ulrich Noethen), the actions of the assassination squads above ground seeking out perceived malingerers & deserters, the to-the-death fanaticism of defenders no more than children, & the blind & irrational loyalty of Joseph (Ulrich Matthes) & Magda (Corinna Harfouch) Goebbels to Hitler. Indeed, perhaps the hardest sequence to watch is that of Magda killing her own children - Helga, Hilde, Helmut, Hedda, Holde - with cyanide capsules after first drugging them with a sleeping potion. She'd decided that they didn't deserve to live in a world devoid of National Socialism. At one point, the oldest girl, Helga, sensing something is amiss with her mother's intentions, resists taking the soporific, but is forced to submit by Magda & Dr. Stumpfegger (Thorsten Krohn). The Goebbels children, along with Hitler's dog Blondi, who was poisoned by his master to test the effects of the cyanide capsules provided by Himmler, are the only innocents here, & the viewer's heart may well bleed for them.
The performance by Bruno Ganz was of Oscar caliber. He was certainly more deserving of a nomination than a couple of the actors so honored at the recent Academy Awards ceremony. However, can you imagine the wailing & gnashing of teeth by the Politicallly Correct had Bruno's ADOLPH HITLER been acclaimed for the brilliant rendition it is?
For those who'd criticize DOWNFALL as humanizing Hitler & his cronies, I have a breaking news flash. Hello!?! These men & women were defective, but still Homo sapiens alll. Those who'd put these deviants beyond the pale of the species are just as deluded as those who'd deny that the Holocaust ever took place, & they may just as well put their heads back under the sand. It's a tired adage, but, forget history & you'll repeat it.
My only complaint was that many of the characters, unless introduced to the audience by having their names verbalized in the dialogue, are left too long unidentified. There should have been visual captions at the first appearance of each. Himmler, Goebbels, & perhaps Speer, are immediately recognizable, but it took too long into the run time to identify such as Bormann, Günsche, Weidling, Krebs, Burgdorf, Keitel, & Jodl.
DOWNFALL is a must-see film for anybody interested in the death throes of Hitler's Reich. It was nominated for an Academy Award as the Best Foreign Language Film of 2004. It lost out to THE SEA INSIDE, a lesser movie. The fact that the latter was itself exceptional should be an indication of how superb a production DOWNFALL is.
