Straightforward But Very Powerful

Rating: 9/10 (6 March 2009)

There's nothing particularly earth-shattering from a historical perspective here. It's simply the faithfully recounted story of the last 10 days of Adolf Hitler's life in the Bunker beneath the Chancellery. The basic story has been told before in 1981's "The Bunker" which starred Anthony Hopkins as Hitler, but although I thought that was well done, this is far superior, primarily because of the frighteningly superb performance of Bruno Ganz as Hitler. He became "der Fuhrer" in this movie. He was completely convincing, and offered a more complex portrayal than Hopkins' version. In this movie Hitler shifts between being a charming boss to his secretaries, even sometimes being self-deprecating with them (he says to a nervous Traudl Junge on her first day "I make a lot of mistakes; you won't make as many as I do") to being maniacal and out-of control, raging against the betrayals of his colleagues and the failures (in his eyes) of his generals. Brilliant. Alexandra Maria Lara was almost as convincing as Junge. Her character seems to be what ties the movie together (and the movie begins and ends with actual footage of the real Junge being interviewed for the also fascinating documentary "Im Totem Winkel.") There was also an interesting portrayal of the Goebbels, and especially Magda Goebbels (Corinna Harfounch) as she struggles with her conscience at the decision to murder her five children. The setting was realistic; the atmosphere totally believable. I appreciated as well that the movie painted a pretty good picture of what life was like outside the bunker, as we see street-fighting against the Russians, largely involving the Hitler Youth, who were the only ones left to defend the city after the collapse of Germany's armies. The cowardice of Hitler's generals and other officers was clearly shown as well. They obviously know that the war is over and Germany defeated, yet to the end they won't stand up to their demonic leader. This is truly one of the most powerful movies I've seen in a long time. 9/10