towards the end

Rating: 10/10 (3 February 2015)

The name Adolf Hitler signifies the embodiment of evil to everyone born since the Third Reich collapsed. Most of us are used to seeing Hitler as a raving lunatic standing behind microphones. But what was it like to know the man personally? Oliver Hirschbiegel's movie "Der Untergang" ("Downfall" in English) is based on the memoirs of Hitler's secretary Traudl Junge. It focuses mainly on Hitler's final few days alive in the Führerbunker, where he hid with a number of acolytes as the Third Reich imploded. Bruno Ganz plays Hitler, forced to realize that Germany is facing certain defeat (and he looks as if he's developing Parkinson's). Almost as monstrous as Nazism's founder is Magda Goebbels, who casually poisons her own children and proceeds to play cards as if nothing has happened.
The opening and closing scenes feature interviews with an elderly Traudl Junge, who reveals that the prospect of being Hitler's secretary excited her, and that she had no idea what the Nazis were doing across Europe. Indeed, only a small percentage of Germany's population ever joined the Nazi Party but got blinded to what the Nazis were doing. The point is that this collection of men in Hitler's inner circle - Krebs, Schädle, Burgdorf, Högl, etc - may have seemed like calm individuals, but they were purveyors of evil. Nazi Germany was not a hellish place for people who did what they were told, but was horrifying for the "others".
"Downfall" is a movie that everyone should see.