Humanizing Hitler...

Rating: 9/10 (23 June 2007)

A compelling and provocative film detailing Hitler's last days.
Bruno Ganz is outstanding as the Fuhrer himself, in what I think was definitely a performance worthy of at least an Oscar Nomination.
Downfall does not involve the horrors of the Holocaust nor the bloody waters of the Normandy beaches, but the crumbling state of a disintegrating Germany where the SS is unable to withstand the Russians' ruthless assault and enclosure on Berlin.
This is an excellent account of the lives and troubles of Hitler and the men surrounding him in his final days as Germany kneels down for an inevitable surrender.
What this film does in an effort to document and visualise Hitler as a human and not as a monster is somehow admirable. It is rare to see an attempt to estimate this dictator as a human being; one that can be charming and polite and simultaneously switch into becoming a ruthless, brutal figure dictating the deaths of millions.
This is a heavy film. It is disturbing, distressing and depressing. However it is a wonderful recreation of the last days of Nazism and Hitler. Oliver Hirschbiegel's film is a masterful documentation of one of history' most tyrannous, but ultimately fascinating figures and the environment around him.
"An intense, human masterpiece"
"Bruno Ganz is superb. An Oscar worthy performance"