This movie has great insight on the final few days of Adolf Hitler's reign over Nazi Germany in 1945. It's a watch must for anybody, curious about WWII.

Rating: 9/10 (1 April 2016)

Downfall is an early 2000's foreign language movie with English subtitles, probably best known for most people, as the movie where the Angry Hitler internet parody meme came from, where Adolf Hitler (Bruno Ganz) rants about modern, often trivial topics. For me, I saw the movie, as more than that; it's a haunting masterpiece of a historical World War 2 reenactment of a very important date in world history. Based upon the books: 'Inside Hitler's Bunker: The Last Days of the Third Reich', by historian Joachim Fest; 'Until the Final Hour: Hitler's Last Secretary', the memoirs of Hitler's secretary, Traudl Junge; 'Inside the Third Reich', the memoirs of Albert Speer, one of the highest-ranking Nazi officials to survive both the war and the Nuremberg trials; Hitler's Last Days: An Eye–Witness Account by Gerhard Boldt; Das Notlazarett unter der Reichskanzlei: Ein Arzt erlebt Hitlers Ende in Berlin by Doctor Ernst-Günther Schenck; and Soldat: Reflections of a German Soldier, 1936–1949 (1992), Siegfried Knappe's memoir. The mixer of all these source materials, was good enough to nominate for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2004. While, the film directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel takes some liberties on the source materials, by changing Traudl Junge's (Alexandra Maria Lara) escape, Albert Speer (Heino Ferch) meeting with Goebbels family, and how Heinrich Himmler (Ulrich Noethen) met his end. Despite these dramatic licenses, the film generally shows an accurate view of events. Much of the framing is taken from contemporary photographs and newsreels—one of the movie posters is basically a staged version of the very last picture ever taken of Adolf Hitler. It show, how well-shot, this film is. I just wish, director Oliver Hirschbeigel had more passion for this film. I get that, he wanted to direct 2004's 'Blade: Trinity', instead. However, I don't think, that film would had works well, with his style. Plus, his contract stated that he couldn't leave the project and had to direct 'Downfall'. Despite that, the accuracy and details that Olivier Hirschbiegel put in the film really helped viewers get into Hitler's frame of mind and what it must have been like living with him for his last few days. This also helps by one of the best acting, I ever saw in a World War 2 film. Bruno Ganz as Adolf Hitler, was amazing. It's really shows that he takes his role, very serious by preparing four months of research on Hitler such as showing the effects of the Parkinson's disease and listening to Hitler's secret recording in Finland. It's superb how well, he imitate Hitler's mannerisms and speech patterns. It's no wonder, why his performance was almost universally critically acclaimed by everybody. He was at his best, during the scene where he talks about his dream for Germania (The Nazi New Capital). This scene in the film helps the viewer get a sense of how Hitler lost touch with reality towards the end of the war. Glad, they didn't make Hitler or his followers into a sympathetic figure, at all! The film also powerful in the way, they show the blind devotion of the Nazis, even during Hitler's insanity, by capturing, their violence acts, through many disturbing suicides, commitments, and fighting scenes even knowing they had lost the war. These events become very somber, when children are involve in the fight. It's really shocking to hear, how many of these mad men deprive their little kids of their lives. Because of that, this movie is hard to watch for some people. Another thing, I felt was a little jarring is the overtype supporting cast, actors such as Thomas Kretschmann and Ulrich Noethern. Not only does they play Hermann Fegelein & Heinrich Himmler in this film, but they are no strangers in playing roles concerning Nazis. Most of their filmography are roles like this. While, it's no fault of the film, it just something that hard, not to notice. Another is the interview samples of real Traudl Junge toward the end. I don't like it was taken from the 2001's documentary "Blind Spot". It felt out of place, from the majority of reenactment scenes, however it was short enough to care, too much about it. So you can call that, a nitpick from me. Overall: This provocative look at Hitler's last days barely has any faults, besides being grim and somber. While, this film isn't for everybody, due to the graphic violence and language, it's best viewed by very mature people who've had studied World War 2, and are prepared to ponder complex questions about what makes, the darkest, most brutal men in human history into the monsters, that they would soon would become. It's a character study movie, for anybody curious about how the Holocaust, and the War in Europe was able to end.