A perfect portrayal of the final peak of Germany's darkest time

Rating: 8/10 (31 July 2007)

With "The Downfall" Oliver Hirschbiegel and Bernd Eichinger created a cinema experience, which had seemed to be too delicate for German movie makers till then; the portrayal of Adolf Hitler and the depiction of the last twelve days of the Third Reich. Historically precise and provided with an enormous amount of artistic intensity, "The Downfall" managed to form a cinematic coming to terms with apparently one of the most tragic and in equal terms catastrophic chapters of German history. The more and more appearing senselessness of war and the decaying conception of national socialism are contrasted to the aim of Hitler and his leading elites to continue the war by all means necessary. By the same token the incapability of the principal generals of staff, who are unable to manage, respectively are not willing, to instruct Hitler about the absolutely hopeless situation he maneuvered himself into, is depicted plausibly. In this regard it is essential to point out the acting performed by the main characters resp. the entire cast, for it is the brilliant acting which makes the movie such an intense experience for the audience. Several critics stated that "The Downfall" would picture Hitler to human, too much in private moments and that those scenes would distract people from recognizing the delusionally controlled and hate-driven person of Hitler. But it has to be stressed, that just due to the fact it does not conceal Hitlers human and private side but displays it quite obviously, a notion within the audience rises that the evil, the most obnoxious and even the most inhuman ideology might lurk inside of everyone and could possibly find its manifestation. In other words, the danger of such ideology could not be concentrated in this one abstracted evil but in every human at all.