A mesmerizing experience and one that will hopefully remind people all over the world that history may never repeat itself!

Rating: 10/10 (18 January 2005)

All I can say about "Der Untergang" is: WOW! This is one of those rare films that prove that the darkest pages in our world history easily surpass the fiction tales of the most imaginative fantasist. This soon-to-be landmark in cinema portrays the final ten days of Hitler's reign at the well hidden bunker in Berlin. In the opening sequences, we see how the Führer hires Traudl Junge (flawless performance by Alexandra Maria Lara) as his personal secretary and we largely witness the rest of the story from her viewpoint. Recent documentary footage with the real Junge is showed to audience at the end of the movie, stressing even more that this is a very intelligent and carefully elaborated production. A form of criticism I often encountered stated that Hitler was portrayed too "human" by the Swiss actor Bruno Ganz. Let me tell you that people who claim this haven't got the slightest clue what they're talking about! It's true that Hitler sometimes strokes his dogor even gives a compliment to his servant for cooking him such a lovely dinner! But only moments after, you're exposed to the real Hitler again! Alternately a mad-raving dictator, a disillusioned conqueror or simply a pathetic old man. But perhaps the most astonishing scenes in "Der Untergang" are the ones in which the persons close to Hitler  either professional or amicable  remain unconditionally loyal to him! It is deeply disturbing to behold how so many people blindly swear by the unworldly beliefs of a madman, even prepared to follow him into death. This accurate portrait results in a series of brilliant sequences with the severely shocking fate of the Goebbels family as an absolute highlight.
Purely talking in terms of cinema, "Der Untergang" comes dangerously close to perfection as well. The largest part of this film exists out of interior shots, more specifically the bunker-network where Hitler lasted his final days and eventually committed suicide. And the atmosphere inside this bunker is reflected on the movie-screen as genuine as humanly possible. You can nearly smell the fear of the lower-ranked officers! You can almost feel the shivering of the petrified secretaries! I really hate using a cliché sentence like this butit's trueit's like you are there yourself! And you don't want to be there! Even the totally demolished streets of Berlin looks look more appealing than the claustrophobic Nazi bunker. This despicable chapter in history deserves an accurate and well-budgeted cinema version, if only just for passing on the inglorious stories of WWII to younger generations. Director Oliver Hirschbiegel terrifically turned Joachim Fest's novel into a mesmerizing film experience. Perhaps the most praiseworthy aspect about it all is that "Der Untergang" simply is a reconstruction of the facts! No lame and amateurish attempts to blame Hitler's actions on miserable childhoods or traumatizing experiences. Simply put: this is fundamental viewing!