A hugely engrossing, powerful and thoughtful treatment of the material

Rating: Null/10 (6 September 2015)

Released under the title "Downfall" in the English speaking world, this is a hugely engrossing film about the last ten days of Hitler's life, the fall of Berlin to the Red Army and the end of the Second World War in Europe. The excellent script by Bernd Eichinger is based on a variety of historical sources, many of them primary ones, and hues closely to the actual events of April and May 1945. Oliver Hirschbiegel's direction is superlative in both the quieter character moments and the appropriately brutal, uncompromising and often disturbingly violent battle scenes. Given the subject matter, it is interesting to note that much of the film was shot in St. Petersburg.
In the role of Adolf Hitler, Bruno Ganz is phenomenal and never less than absolutely compelling, whether he is being tender towards his companions in the bunker or spewing hatred for the Jews. The film endeavoured to make the dictator as three-dimensional and human as possible and it fully succeeded in this. Some criticised the film for this approach but it is important to remember that Hitler was human and not an alien or a demon or one of Frankenstein's creations. The British historian Sir Ian Kershaw, one of the leading experts on Hitler and the Third Reich in general, had this to say on the matter and I think that this says it best: "Hitler was, after all, a human being, even if an especially obnoxious, detestable specimen. We well know that he could be kind and considerate to his secretaries, and with the next breath show cold ruthlessness, dispassionate brutality, in determining the deaths of millions." His secretary Traudl Junge says almost exactly that in the film, which continually emphasises his crimes and his complete disregard for human life. In the final days of his life, Hitler was a pathetic, increasingly unstable figure but the film does not want us to pity him and I most certainly didn't.
Alexandra Maria Lara is excellent as Traudl Junge, who is depicted as a good person who finds herself in the midst of a dreadful situation which is far beyond her control and perhaps her understanding. She has a misplaced sense of loyalty to Hitler but she is not a true Nazi and she is extremely uncomfortable whenever he engages in one of his anti-Semitic tirades. The film is bookended by interviews with the real Traudl Junge, in which she discusses her inability to forgive herself for her involvement in the regime and the fact that her being young and naive did not absolve her as Sophie Scholl was the same age and resisted the Nazis. These interviews are crucial to our understanding of Frau Junge, who is depicted as a very sympathetic and quite a vulnerable character. However, I felt the greatest sympathy for the children, both the members of the Hitler Youth who were so deluded that they thought that they could actually make a difference in the Battle of Berlin and the six Goebbels children who were murdered by their frighteningly fanatical parents so they would not grow up in a world with Nazism. Their eldest child, Helga, was twelve at the time of her death and was the only one to realise that their parents intended to kill them. Her attempts to resist are particularly harrowing. The Goebbels children's death scene is the most disturbing and upsetting in the entire film.
Juliane Köhler gives a fantastic performance as Eva Braun, who arranges a party for Hitler's birthday in a textbook example of fiddling while Rome burns. However, her forced grins seems to hide an inner misery as at one point she admits that she hardly even knows Hitler after 15 years. The film has a very strong cast overall such as Thomas Kretschmann (probably the best known cast member in the English speaking world) as Braun's cynical opportunist brother-in-law Hermann Fegelein, Ulrich Matthes as Goebbels, Corinna Harfouch who is beyond wonderful in the comparatively small but pivotal role of his wife Magda, Christian Berkel as Ernst-Günther Schenck, André Hennicke as General Mohnke, Michael Mendl - one of the few people in the film who was actually alive in 1945 - as General Weidling, Birgit Minichmayr as Gerda Christian and Gerald Alexander Held as Walther Hewel. The Hitler Youth member Peter Kranz is the only notable fictional character. As regards the historical characters, the film's epilogue gives the fate of all those who did not die in the film. The exact fate of Hitler's cook Constanze Manziarly is unknown as she disappeared without a trace after leaving the bunker but she is last seen holding a capsule of poison, a perfectly reasonable speculation on the part of the filmmakers.
Overall, this is a powerful and thoughtful treatment of the material. My only criticism is that ten or so minutes could have been trimmed after Hitler committed suicide as the last half an hour occasionally lags. The film was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar but I think that it deserved a Best Picture nomination. I also think that Bruno Ganz should have been nominated for Best Actor but perhaps a performance which depicts Hitler as a real person was not to Hollywood's taste.