"Der Untergang" - maybe the best German movie about their darkest chapter

Rating: 10/10 (7 September 2004)

This morning I had the opportunity of seeing "Der Untergang" in a press preview. "Der Untergang" gives us an inside look of the last days of Adolf Hitler and his surrounding staff in the "FÃ¼hrerbunker" in Berlin.
The story is told through the eyes of his 22-years-old secretary Traudl Junge who was like many other Germans fascinated by their leader. The Swiss actor Bruno Ganz gives a very impressive performance as Hitler, he succeeds in showing us the "normal" man and not only the evil monster.
But the movie not just focuses on this one man, it makes very clear that Hitler was supported by many other important men and women.
Most part of the dialog is authentic, the atmosphere in the bunker is very realistic, almost claustrophobic ( like in Petersons "Das Boot" ).
The permanent sound of the exploding bombs, that indicate the arriving of the Russian Army, gives the viewer a feeling of being him/ herself inside the bunker. But the main achievement of the movie is that it reflects the microcosmo of different characters of the Third Reich, all impressive played by the leading German actors. The script gives us no main characters we could identify with. "Der Untergang" is maybe the best German movie about their darkest chapter of History.