A Masterpiece when it comes to war movies!

Rating: 10/10 (28 August 2015)

Downfall (Der Unterang in Germany), the story of Hitler and the other political staff in his Berlin bunker as the Soviets advance towards them, could well be described as a war movie like no other. It tends to use emotional violence, rather than physical, graphic war violence to pummel you (there are few instances of it, I'll admit that). Furthermore, instead telling the story of, say, a group of soldiers fighting for victory, there are no real heroes to root for, and plenty of unpleasant, confused politicians in their place. With realism applied, not even Bruno Ganz portraying Hitler stands out in terms of evil-mindedness (Mr. and Mrs. Goebbels are even worse). This narrative technique works in making the film as earth-shattering as it is.
On that note, congratulations Bruno Ganz, for delivering an all-time great performance as Adolf Hitler, arguably history's most iconic villain, that should have won him the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Shame Academy rules made him ineligible for even a nomination, which is a travesty. Not that the Oscars are gospel.
The Swiss-born Ganz, for the role of Hitler, gave everything into the performance, listening to the only audio recordings of Hitler as well as footage of him dictating. He simply nailed the physical mannerisms, as well as the accent and the aggressive nature of his character.
The way he explodes as his Hitler hears of military failings or betrayals from his comrades are terrifying (and in the process giving rise to countless memes and parodies of those scenes on the Internet). More shocking yet is the way in numerous other scenes he holds a far more subtle, more calm demeanour, suggesting, as must have been the case, that most of time Hitler didn't behave like a complete nutcase, no doubt unstable though. The genius of Ganz's performance is that in the end, he plays Hitler as a real, three-dimensional person, not a unrealistic caricature, such that it is definitively the best portrayal of the dictator put on film to date, if not for all eternity. One of THE performances of the 21st century so far.
I must also praise the Marion Cotillard-lookalike Alexandra Maria Lara for her performance as Hitler's secretary Traudl Junge, not necessarily adding the same level of depth to her character as Ganz, but still powerful nonetheless. Just about everyone else in the cast each have their moments and do a fantastic job in transferring Bernd Eichinger's impeccable screenplay to the screen, especially Ulrich Matthes and Corinna Harfouch as the Goebbels couple, who disturbingly steal most of the scenes they're in after Ganz is gone from the film.
Credit has to go to director Oliver Hirschbiegel, who, without using much violence as aforementioned, maintained a mesmerizing level of emotion and intensity, most notably in the bunker scenes. Alongside getting phenomenal acting from his ensemble, he achieved this with dizzying, claustrophobic cinematography from Rainer Klausmann and incredible editing by Hans Funck, which contributed to the fact that not once in the 145 min film did I feel bored and found myself waiting for the next scene. Although, not reaching on a technical level, the heights of Saving Private Ryan etc. Downfall still proves that you don't need a lot of technical impetus to succeed in making a impact on the audience.
I have not yet seen Saving Private Ryan or The Thin Red Line, yet once I have watched those two great war movies (and they are great from what I gather) neither will strike the same chord which Downfall did. Hopefully a film that will be remembered in another 50, or 100 years.