The Crumbling of the Reich During Its Last Days from Hitler's Bunker: The Ideology Was More Difficult to Topple than Germany's Armies

Rating: 10/10 (8 May 2015)

According to the events of the film, which I assume are mostly accurate with some liberal aspects for cinematic effect, the ideology of the Nazi regime took much longer and was far more difficult to crumble than the buildings, infrastructure and military operations of the Third Reich. This film not only takes the viewer inside the bunker where Adolph Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide in late April, 1945, it takes us inside the heads of the most loyal Nazis. And what we learn about these people is as terrifying in many ways as what the Nazis did to millions of people across Europe outside the confines of Hitler's final residence.
The structure begins and ends with an interview as cinematic bookends. A real-life survivor of the Reich who had been one of Hitler's private secretaries during the final years of the Third Reich, Traudl Junge, appears on screen. Now an old woman, she describes how she was enthralled to receive the opportunity to become a member of Hitler's inner circle. At the end, she alludes to the fact she didn't think for herself.
The narrative scenes begin in 1942 with Traudl Junge among a group of aspiring young women wishing to work for Adolph Hitler (Bruno Ganz), dictator and self-proclaimed savior of Germany. Not surprising, Junge (Alexandra Maria Lara) is chosen for the job by the Führer himself. Then the film cuts to April 20, 1945, Hitler's 56th birthday. It's inevitable to everyone involved that not only is Germany going to lose the war against the allies, but Berlin is only days away from being taken by the Russian Army. Hitler's inner circle, including Heinrich Himmler and Joseph Goebbels, insist that it's time for him, Eva Braun, and the rest of his inner circle to evacuate Berlin. Hitler refuses, claiming it would be a sign of cowardice and surrender. Before going underground, he awards Iron Crosses to members of "Hitler's Youth". Then he moves his operation into an underground bunker where he and his closest associates will try to keep the Reich together during its final days.
The events which transpire in this film are some of the most disturbing and devastating as any film about World War II and the Reich I've ever seen. While all the residents of the bunker, save the children of Goebbels, know the war and the Reich are coming to an anti-climactic but tragic end, they cling to their ideology like moths in front of a lighted bug zapper. They must have known in their heart-of-hearts that this was not going to end in their favor. However, they can't imagine life without the Reich and their Führer. He had become the acknowledged decision-maker, philosopher, and thinker for the entire country. In several scenes, the people around him acknowledge over and over again that only Hitler can make the decisions, no one else. And if they question him, or, God forbid, refuse his orders, they are labeled traitors, even in the face of impending destruction.
Barely a week and a half before Hitler and Eva Braun will commit suicide, Hitler is still barking orders, arresting wayward soldiers, and sentencing perceived traitorous officers and AWOL soldiers to death, as if he is still in charge of his country, even though the allies have by now taken most of Germany, and the Russians are on the outskirts of Berlin, a few kilometers away. He rants and raves to the highest officers in his command, chastising them for not winning the war. He instructs his officers to mobilize army units in other parts of the country, even though they have all been defeated by the allies. He continues with his maps and strategies, like a chess player contemplating his next move, even though his king has been surrounded and near checkmate. However, surrender is beyond him, even at the price of more killing and destruction. The real eye-opener is not that Hitler wouldn't let go of his ideology, but those around him couldn't bring themselves to stop following his orders.
In his final days and hours, according the film, Hitler never wavered from his ultimate ideology, even though the ideology itself is what led to the final demise of the Reich. His ideology for Germany was relatively simple: a national socialist government in which Hitler himself is absolute ruler without question or pause, and ethnic minorities, particularly Jews, Poles, and Gypsies have no place and must be swept aside. These ideas proved immoral and ruinous.
It's not surprising that Hitler failed to see his ideology not only meant the destruction of Europe and the deaths and suffering of millions, but it also meant the near destruction of Germany itself. What is surprising is that those around him couldn't see passed Hitler's madness. During many scenes, high-ranking members of his inner circle could have refused his orders to save the German people, but they did not. They were so hypnotized by his rhetoric and ideology they had no concept to believe they could make decisions to save Germany and deny the Führer his power. Most follow him to the very end, and the price some of them pay for this loyalty is almost unimaginable. Goebbels's wife in a moving scene breaks down because she can't bear the thought of the country being without its socialist ideology and dictator.
The tragedy of Germany and those most loyal to him and the Nazi cause was a blind refusal to see how their ideology was self-destructive rather than life-affirming. They believed in one leader who would do all the thinking for them and therefore they couldn't and shouldn't think for themselves. Such a tragedy that that leader happened to be Adolph Hitler. At one point, Goebbels says he has no sympathy for the country, since it was the country itself which allowed these madmen into power in the first place.