a few hidden agendas among the ruins of the third Reich

Rating: 10/10 (24 August 2005)

A great movie: a superb vehicle for recounting the History of the end of Nazi Germany through the eyes of one of Hitler's secretaries, but take it with a few grains of salt. The producers described as History a number of THEORIES concerning the end of the Nazis. The doctor who mixed the knockout drug Finodin that Magda Goebbles gave to her children before killing them was named by the producers as Stumpfnegger, who committed suicide with Bormann. However, much evidence, including a deposition I have personally read in the US National Archives in College Park MD, names someone else (who denied involvement). Herman Fegelein is shown as having been arrested drunk in a hotel room (the Adlon?) and shot for desertion, though he was actually hanged for espionage, a much more involved and interesting albeit detracting story. Eva Braun, portrayed for the first time NOT as a cardboard character, when confronted with evidence of Fegelein's espionage, in fact supported the execution, but this was not portrayed. However, what the producers got right compensates for these nagging errors. A great touch was denying any lines to the evil debauched parasite Goering. Goebbles, Hasse, Shenk, Moenhke, Burgdorf, Krebs, and Weidling were portrayed masterfully. Even Bormann was portrayed as forgettable background furniture, a skilled ironic touch. The most successful technique: The set design often reproduced in exacting detail famous stills taken during the fall of Berlin. I often caught myself thinking, "I remember that," though I was never there.