why so much fuss about this film?

Rating: 8/10 (12 April 2006)

Hitler's last days in his underground bunker in Berlin in April 1945 and the fall of the Nazi Reich related from several standpoints including his secretary's. The Allies come on in leaps and bounds and are within an ace of the total victory but Hitler (astounding Bruno Ganz) is prisoner of his megalomaniac illusions and his absurd dreams of greatness. A strong division reigns in this underground world between the officers who know the nearly inevitable and adamant end and the ones who are still in prey to an unshakable fanaticism for their guru. Ultimately, endeavors of peace negotiations with the Allies will be begun by the most lucid officers while the most die-hard ones about the Nazi ideology will only see suicide as their last exit...
This film shot by Oliver Hirschbegel deserves credit for having looked into a prickly era of history: the end of the Nazi regime led by a dictator who plunged the world into an unparalleled Barbary and violence and responsible of the most horrible human crimes. Derived from two books relating Hitler's last days in his bunker, it was supposed to be an accurate rendering of the facts for the sake of the detail and the historic reality. But inevitably, there are some liberties taken and certain sequences are pure fiction. For example, according to the historian Jean Tulard, Goebbels didn't fire at his wife before killing himself. They poisoned themselves.
I also know very well that when the film reached the streets about two years ago, it gave rise to controversy and caused a lot of ink to flow. The mainspring: a more human face of the monster Hitler. But I think there is no real justification for this scandal in its major part. I didn't find that the depiction of Hitler in this "Untergang" introduced a more enticing face except maybe in some intimate sequences with some women. On the contrary, the Hitler represented in this "Untergang" is a mercurial, formidable monster who wildly oscillates between rare moments of short lucidity and tantrums, especially when his officers come to announce him that the Allies gain ground and the German army has to draw back. It was a good idea from the director to have often favored the off-camera during these incommoding moments. The camera goes in a next room, generally full of people and one can still hear the dictator's screams. By stubbornly striving to repel the Allies armies with restrained military means, he's like he's beating a dead horse. He also only displays contempt for the German people and holds inhuman facts about the Jewish people. He's a man who firmly believes(or does he?) that the Nazi Reich can go on. One of the most conspicuous sequences show him in front of a model of the architectural Berlin he wants to build in the future. In short, "der Untergang" introduced Hitler as I had imagined him, nearly exempted of a human face.
What remains is an absorbing assessment of a decaying world between the officers who know the impending end of the Nazi reign and have to endure Hitler's absurd intentions and his most staunch devotees which include quite a lot of women who keep on pandering to him. And many of them are ready to commit suicide not to see the end of the Nazi Reich like Goebbels, a narrow-minded man and his wife who is ready to poison her own children. There's a grisly scene which packs a real wallop. But chaos also reigns in this bunker. Some of the members absconded while others party to vainly forget the end. Dancing on a volcano indeed. But disorder also reigns in the devastated streets of Berlin. In the meantime, the apocalyptic shots of Berlin reminded me of Warsaw's in Roman Polanski's admirable "the Pianist" (2002). See the scene when a more than middle-aged man strives to make a bunch of teenagers realize that by trying to repel a platoon of Sovietic soldiers, they won't be able to hold on very long. But there's a young boy who will manage to repel two tanks ans will be rewarded by the "Führer". Then, the Bunker has a lot of dour corridors. They could be the symbols of the confused spirit of the Nazi members and the fact that all these people belong to an underground bunker could be interpreted as a faded microcosm of a regime condemned to disappear.
Bruno Ganz's composition is mind-boggling. It seems that it was a tailor-made part for him. He seems to have studied in detail Hitler's persona and he delivered an Oscar-caliber performance which could be worth alone the price of admission. But the film is also buoyed by a topnotch cast in general. Each actor makes his part count. The persona of each protagonist fits them like a glove.
I must confess that I was very taken with this film and if one leaves aside the liberties taken in comparison with the historic reality, "der Untergang" is a gripping film. Its very high stance in the top 250 of this site is certainly too much but it's worth a watch all the same. When the film is over one can only hope this: that such a megalomaniac and dangerous man can never come to power again.