The definitive film about Hitler's last days

Rating: 9/10 (12 January 2011)

A German film about the last days of the Nazi regime, centered on the Fuhrer's bunker, from his 56th birthday on April 20th, 1945 to the fall of Berlin on May 8th. This is certainly a very compelling story (certainly one of the most important stories of the 20th century) and while it has been filmed before, it is the first time it's done in the German language. This makes the movie look far more authentic than when someone like Anthony Hopkins or Alec Guinness played an English speaking Fuhrer. And it has a neat framing device in the story as seen by Hitler's young secretary Traudl Junge. The more compelling parts of the movie, for me, are not the war scenes, but the discussions Hitler has with his closest aides and military staff: Jodl, Krebs, Burgdorf, Keitel, Speer, Wiedling, Mohnke. Most of them know the situation is extremely critical, but they are reluctant to tell the Fuhrer, who is increasingly in denial, promising final victory even after the Russians are only a few kilometers away from his headquarters. Only Goebbels remains completely wedded to the Fuhrer's autistic vision. Even Himmler and Goering, realizing the desperate situation of the Reich try to unsuccessfully arrange negotiations with the allies. These negotiations never got to anything, but Hitler is furious when he learns about them, and consider them both traitors. Bruno Ganz is brilliant as Hitler, but the movie is considerably helped by the strengths of its many characters. For example, Fegelein, who as Himmler's adjutant, tries to convince Hitler and the other people in the bunker that it's best to leave Berlin. Fegelein meets an untimely fate and has become the subject of many internet gags (more on that later). Or Eva Braun, portrayed here as the ultimate dumb blond totally subservient to his man. Or Magda Goebbels, who can be both cold and hysterical. Perhaps the only character whose portrayal is unsatisfying is Joseph Goebbels, since he is played by an actor in a heavy and ridiculous white make up. Also strange is the decision to have Goering appear in only one scene and without a speaking role, just looking impatiently at his watch. I remember that when the movie came out, some critics thought the movie was pro Nazi, in that it understood Hitler too much. I think with time it is clear that this charge is ridiculous. This movie clearly shows the delusion of Hitler and the terrible philosophy of the Nazis: no compassion and ultimate indifference to the fate of their own people. One criticism is that perhaps the movie was a bit too long: most of the scenes involving the bald doctor in the hospital or the child soldiers could have been cut and the movie would have been better. Of course, by now the movie is well known by the hundreds (if not thousands) of parody videos in the Internet where the original audio is retained but the subtitles are changed so that Hitler and his aides end up arguing about a lot of ridiculous and anachronistic subjects (like computer programs, sport teams, pop stars, whatever). Those videos are sometimes very funny (and they have been surprisingly resilient in time given the short attention span of fads in the web), but if the movie on which they are based was not powerful, they couldn't have thrived as they did.