Gripping, moving and horrifying  again a war movie that just makes you wonder what the point of it all is

Rating: Null/10 (19 April 2005)

In 1945 the second world war is coming to an end The German armies that once spread out all over Europe have been decimated and pushed back to the very heart of the German command in Berlin. Deep in his bunker, Hitler continues to rule with his group of generals, families and Traudl, his secretary. Awaiting armies that no longer exist and making plans that his generals are too scared to tell him are impossible, Hitler refuses to surrender as the streets and citizens of Berlin suffer between the remaining defending forces and the advancing Russian army. Gradually, as it becomes obvious that all is lost, the dream collapses and all that is left is death.
A few months ago, a fellow user on this site asked me if I thought if Der Untergang was going to get nominated for an Oscar or not; I must admit that at the time I had not heard of it, but decided to see it if I got the chance. Of course it took me a few weeks to be in the mood for a long war movie that I knew was not going to have a good ending for anyone. When I went to see this film, the woman selling me my tickets asked if I knew it was a German film, I asked why it mattered and she said that they had had quite a few people leave the screening complaining about the fact it wasn't in English; doubtless these people then went into the next available screening of Be Cool (or whatever) and turned off their hearts and minds and just talked their way through the movie. Anyway, enough of my multiplex complaining, in fairness I did join a surprisingly full screening of this film and immediately got into it. The focus of the story was the bunker and it is compelling in its portrayal, with the cold emotion, the cruel sentiments and the utter pointlessness of the whole thing.
The characters are not that well developed; they were never really people to me but they did enough to fit their roles within this story. That said, the whole story is compelling and it didn't matter that I didn't care for the characters as people because they were gripping to watch nonetheless. The film works well to paint the inanity of the whole thing but also cut in moments that are so cold that they almost made me shiver  for example, when Hitler is told of the loss of all the young officers, he simply replies "that is what the young are for". The film does not forget the people above ground and the scenes of destruction of Berlin are impacting  those who say that the civilians deserved it should see this and try to understand what they would have done in the situation; I am part of a country that went to war with Iraq, by that logic I deserve to have that country retaliate against me, even though I opposed the manner in which we did it.
The acting is classy even though the characters are quite thin at times. Ganz is a great Hitler and gets it spot on throughout the film; however he does well not to dominate the film  his death (no spoiler there) doesn't stop the film because he was not what the film was all about. Lara is good although a bit too wide-eyed to convince; her real confessions at the end of the film are a bit too forgiving of her as a person but it does serve as a fair ending to the film. Harfouch and Matthes are cold and effective as the Goebbels' while the rest of the support cast all fit their roles well, with a good mix of opinions and approaches across the generals facing Hitler.
Overall this is a good film although it is not an easy one to watch. The bunker scenes are cold and compelling even if the characters are broad historical reference points rather than people, meanwhile the attacks on Berlin are brutal and difficult to just watch without being moved. The manner in which the film ends is just as you'd expect, with nothing achieved but destruction by all of German's years before and during the war. The end credits remind us that 50 million people died during the war, including 6 million Jews and ethnic minorities systematically murdered  having seen the men who organised all this taking their own lives the main thing I felt was just how pointless and wasteful the whole thing had been and I left the film having "enjoyed" the quality film but being utterly depressed by the world in which we live.