Downfall (2004)

From NetFlix:

After introducing audiences to Adolf Hitler’s stenographer, Traudl Junge, in the gripping documentary Blind Spot: Hitler’s Secretary, director Oliver Hirschbiegel brings Junge to life in this Oscar-nominated drama. With painstaking realism, Hirschbiegel’s Best Foreign Language Film contender adopts Junge’s (Alexandra Maria Lara) point of view to recreate Hitler’s (Bruno Ganz) final 12 days in his Berlin bunker.

Before watching this entrancing recreation of Hitler’s last days, you will benefit greatly by reading the Wikipedia article. What is important to appreciate is that after reading this Wikipedia article you can believe that what you see is very close to what actually happened. The film begins and ends with a filmed interview with the real and elderly Traudl Junge whose accounts as a witness form the basis of much of what we know. Above all else, praise is heaped upon Bruno Ganz’s painstaking and near perfect imitation of Hitler’s voice with its Austrian accent. Ganz worked for months with recordings of Hitler’s voice.

Ignore the politics and the complete horror of what happened. Instead see if you can comprehend (and I find it difficult) the extent to which those involved were blindly loyal to the end to “Der Fürher”. He was revered as a god even while he was obviously unbalanced and out of touch with reality. It is chilling to watch Frau Goebbels poison her six beautiful children after which Joseph and Magda Goebbels shoot each other.

Stay to the end to see captions telling us what happened to many of the main personalities (for example, when and how they died). For me it was difficult attaching a name to each of the many many characters. This last recap fortunately provides photos of the actors as a reference.

Two hours and 36 minutes make a long film, but I couldn’t tear my eyes from the screen.

One thought on “Downfall (2004)”

  1. I loved this film … although it felt somewhat odd to watch the real version (particularly a key Hitler rant scene) after seeing this scene used again and again in parodies of various events.

    Here’s one of him getting annoyed about the launch of the iPad:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_EcybyLJS8

    ‘Downfall’ parodies are a recurrent internet meme: there’s even a version of Hitler getting annoyed at all the Downfall parodies.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSYk8ofhYFY

    Constantin films (the copyright owners) tried to get these all removed … creating (inevitably) a version with Hitler getting cross this:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBO5dh9qrIQ

    The internet will eat itself.

    ————

    PS – just been to see 127 hours. Amazing film … although I’ll be amazed if you can watch without shielding your eyes. Loved it.

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