Der Untergang
Year: 2004
Film Studio: Newmarket Films, Constantin Film
Genre: War, Drama
Length: 156 Min.
DirectorOliver Hirschbiegel (1957)
WritingJoachim Fest (1926)...Book
Traudl Junge (1920)...Book "Bis Zur Letzten Stunde"
Melissa Müller...Book "Bis Zur Letzten Stunde"
Bernd Eichinger (1949)...Screenplay
ProducerWolf-Dietrich Brücker
Bernd Eichinger (1949)
Doris J. Heinze (1949)
Jörn Klamroth
Christine Rothe
CinematographerRainer Klausmann (1949)
MusicStephan Zacharias (1956)...Composer
StarsBruno Ganz (1941) as Adolf Hitler
Alexandra Maria Lara (1978) as Traudl Junge
Corinna Harfouch (1954) as Magda Goebbels
Ulrich Matthes (1959) as Joseph Goebbels
Juliane Köhler (1965) as Eva Braun
Heino Ferch (1963) as Albert Speer
Christian Berkel (1957) as Prof. Dr. Ernst-Günter Schenck
Matthias Habich (1940) as Prof. Dr. Werner Haase
Review The last ten days of Adolf Hitler’s life has been brought to the screen twice before, once starring Alec Guinness and another time with Anthony Hopkins as the defeated dictator of the Third Reich. Although both actors gave stellar performances, their portrayals would depict Hitler as a crazed despot willing to sacrifice any future that Germany would have in a post-Nazi world. As a result, the films suffered and were regarded as caricatures of the personality of Adolf Hitler. In
The Downfall, Bruno Ganz decided to take his performance in a different direction. He would depict Hitler as a tragic bi-polar human being who was now being swallowed up in the inferno that was of his own making. By taking this path, Ganz was able to show the audience how German citizens could have been easily swayed and attracted to this mesmerizing charlatan.
At the beginning of the film we are introduced to Traudl Junge (Alexandra Maria Lara), the naïve and innocent woman who would become Hitler’s secretary and upon whose memoirs the film is based. When she first meets the dictator at an interview for the secretarial position, we witness a warm and compassionate Hitler who comes across as a benevolent father figure to the young woman. Later in the film, as the end nears, her devotion to this
‘father’ figure would lead her to make a pact with the other secretaries, to commit suicide along with the other Nazi disciples. After witnessing the forced
‘suicides’ of the Goebbels children, she realizes the waste of their young lives and does not fulfill her part of the suicide pact.
Filmed in Germany with an all German cast and director, this film was primarily shunned at Oscar time. With over fifty years of documentaries and films which have depicted Hitler in the same way that the Guinness and Hopkins films had done, there was no way that a pre-dominantly Jewish Hollywood would accept the humanizing of Adolf Hitler. It’s understandable, but sad, because
The Downfall was the best film of 2004, and Bruno Ganz’s portrayal was a performance for the ages. I think that film historians in the future will back me up on this assessment. This is a film that should not be missed.
Ratings Criterion5 Stars - The pinnacle of film perfection and excellence.
4 ½ Stars - Not quite an immortal film, yet a masterpiece in its own right.4 Stars - Historically important film, considered a classic.
3 ½ Stars - An entertaining film that’s fun or engaging to watch.
3 Stars – A good film that’s worth a Netflix venture.
2 ½ Stars - Borderline viewable.
2 Stars – A bad film that may have a moment of interest.
1 ½ Stars – Insipid, trite and sophomoric, and that's its good points.
1 Star – A film so vacuous, it will suck 2 hours from the remainder of your life.
½ Star - A gangrenous and festering pustule in the chronicles of celluloid.
