Haunting

Rating: 9/10 (10 June 2011)

"Der Untergang" or "Downfall" is certainly not your everyday Nazi movie. the movie begins with the introduction of Traudl Junge, who is chosen from a handful of ladies to be the Fuhrer Adolf Hitler's private secretary. Two years later, the Red Army has fought its way to the outskirts of Berlin and, despite the advice of his followers, Hitler decides to stay in the Fuhrerbunker and supervise Berlin's "defense". The movie then follows, through the eyes of Traudl, the last days of one of the most hated men in history. A classic question we ask ourselves whenever we hear or see news of someone doing a despicable deed (terrorists, for example), is "Are they even human?" We are often too afraid to know that the answer is "YES". To commit such atrocities, you can only be human. This is shown in this movie by its depiction of the Nazi High Command. We see them not as a set of demons ruled by the biggest demon of all but as normal men driven by fate to commit the atrocities. That still does not mean this shows them as "sympathetic and misunderstood". If you see this movie, had you hated Hitler for the well documented "Final Solution", you might hate him even more for his cowardice and the fact that he let his own people suffer the collapse of his dreams to the bitter end. Bruno Ganz's performance is not praised for nothing. It shows the world's most famous tyrant as a clearly deluded man living on fundamentally incorrect assumptions about human nature, slowly losing track of reality who nevertheless had a larger than life presence about him that people of like mind and impressionable youths took to. We see this dogged loyalty from his followers the most fanatical of whom are almost as deluded as the man himself. Hitler's personal life is also interesting to note. It goes a long way to show that you need not be a socially inept person or show tendencies of animal cruelty to walk the path of a tyrant. By the end of this movie, you might "pity" Hitler as one would pity a rabid dog that needs to be put down. Yet you see a differing of opinions even among his inner circle. There are the doggedly loyal ones like Goebbels and his wife but there were others who saw through his delusions and aimed for damage control albeit too late. Overall, this is a must watch for fans of Holocaust movies and, although fairly slow, is one of the most engaging movies I've seen. My rating-9/10