Overall this was an excellent film, on par with Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers...

Rating: 10/10 (21 August 2005)

This film had to be one of the best cinematic experiences I've had with war movies,even though I watched it in my own home. The actors do magnificent portrayals of Hitler and his adjutants, not only showing you the horrors that they have committed, but the fact that they were people too, not just a stereotypical bad guy tying a girl to a train track. Bruno Ganz does a wonderful job at being Hitler, his compelling performance made you understand what it was that had so many people enthralled with the man, his charisma, his energy, and how he managed to make everything seem as though it were in control, even though the Russians were mere kilometers from the city center in the beginning of the movie. Ganz also shows the darker side of Hitler, his absurd ideals, his unreasonable strategies, and how mentally unstable he was by the end of the war. The film undoubtedly is dark, showing you over ten suicides, including those of mere children in the Hitler Youth, a girl a few years older than myself, perhaps 16, and a boy around 17. You also see the Hitlers', the Goebbles', their children's, and several lieutenants' suicides. The Downfall shows the chaos that ensued during and after the fall of the Reich, SS squads killing people who they had deemed traitors, those who had allegedly helped the Russians, and the horror of the war in itself. Traudle Junge's part and the young Hitler Youth boy, Peter, tend to be overshadowed by Hitler and his adjutants, but they do play a fairly large part. Overall, this movie was one of the best I have ever seen, morbidly fascinating and darkly compelling, a definite ten out of ten!