An Unstintingly Realistic Examination of the Final Days of Adolf Hitler

Rating: 10/10 (5 August 2005)

DER UNTERGANG (DOWNFALL) is not only a brilliant film in its close-up dissection of the mind of a lunatic, it is an important historical document that at last gives us as realistic view as possible of the last days of the Third Reich. Written by Bernd Eichinger who based his screenplay on memoirs by Traudl Junge and Melissa Müller ('Bis zur letzten Stunde') and Joachim Fest, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, and acted by an all-German cast, this is about as frightening as a story can get - yet a seemingly authentic one.
Bruno Ganz gives a searingly vivid performance as Hitler, and while some are enraged that the film shows too much of the human side of Hitler (as though this could make him seem less horrid!), Ganz finds that fine line of presenting Hitler as a delusional underachiever who will go to any lengths to fake a 'caring man' to some while always being short-fused into irrational rages to others. The film takes place in the final 12 days of Hitler's life while he is living in an underground bunker surrounded by many of his fellow ghouls as Russian troops rapidly advance to stamp out his existence. There is condescension as well as blind devotion among the ranks. Hitler marries Eva Braun, informs his confidants that he will never surrender (nor should they) and then proceeds on his plans to commit suicide with Eva, having extracted a promise that their bodies be burned beyond recognition to prevent desecration by the Allies and encroaching Russians. How this grand final plan is carried out is terrifying, especially watching Frau Goebbels (Corinna Harfouch) sedate then poison all her children, and quietly placing herself in front of the firing squad.
The spectrum of the horror of Hitler's atrocities is not diminished by this so-called 'humanizing' film: quite the contrary - Bruno Ganz inhabits the role with a verismo that makes Hitler even more terrifying in being a credible mind gone mad. The entire cast of this claustrophobic underground bunker team is superb and the direction makes the 156 minutes speed by. The minimalist musical score by Stephan Zacharias lends just the right tone of eeriness and the cinematography by Rainer Klausmann (shot in St Petersburg and Munich) is stunning. The film opens and closes with the elderly Traudl Junge (the 'secretary' author of the book on which the film is based) commenting on the terrible tragedy in which she took part. The effect is devastating. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, August 05