Der Untergang des Europaeischen Filmes.

Rating: Null/10 (14 July 2009)

If you want an entertaining German movie, I suggest you try "Der Schulmaedchenreport 4". So much better in every way...
Actually, Germans are not known for making good movies, and this little Bunker-Tage bio of Hitler is an indication why. The acting is mostly unimpressive, and Hitler comes off as a comic character. Of course, this is always a problem with portraying Hitler; he was so outrageous/absurd/unreal in every way that it's almost impossible to play him without the performance looking like a broad parody of him.
Hence, whenever Hitler (Ganz) shouts - and he shouts and bitches like a wild dog a dozen times at least - I was more inclined to giggle than to get into the drama of the moment. There's plenty of saliva flying out of Ganz's mouth, and if this movie were shown in 3D I would have feared that some might land into my face. Not a pleasant thought! Even Charlie Chaplin's spoof has more of the real person than Ganz's totally animated, overly grumpy Hitler.
Okay, the film isn't that bad. The subject-matter is too interesting to be botched even by a German film-crew, but the close-to 150-minute length is a bit of a problem, too. Frankly, to me the highlight of the movie was the ending, and I'm not trying to be funny. The outro, which reveals what happened to each of the main characters is interesting, but I guess that info one could get in the books or the internet anyway.
You can count yourself lucky if you don't speak German, because if you read the subtitles then the acting and the dialogue don't seem as imperfect as they really are. (This is the case with Bergman films, too.) If you see it in German then you realize just how hard some of these actors try but simply can't get their act together.
Besides, you just know that the Germans could never resist injecting a note of humanity into the main Nazi characters. (A little bias, perhaps...?) I found it laughable how some of these top Nazi psychopaths/sociopaths were portrayed. Another problem is that I could not really feel for any of the German "civilians"/volunteers dying as they defended Berlin. Why? Because considering how many millions of deaths were caused by Germany in WW II - of which the concentration camps represented the worst - I really didn't care that much...
If you are unhappy with this dull Hitler flick, which you must be, just google "Vjetropev Hitler Spoofs" and this will lead you to my video clips with the vastly improved movie. Have fun.
For a truly (unintentionally) funny German movie, try "Der Schnibbler". I hear it's Edwoodesque.