An intimate look at the final days of WW II and Nazi Germany from inside Hitler's bunker

Rating: 9/10 (24 March 2005)

A somewhat unique film by the Germans about the end of WW II. It shows the final days of Nazi Germany and SS officers close up from the inside of Hitler's bunker in Berlin, as the Russian red army is closing in on them. Powerful, intimate, honest, real, painful, brutal.
The entire film actually has no scene of Germans killing a single Jew. How refreshing! Yes, I know that they killed 6 million Jews, but that story has been told a thousand times. Instead, this time it is the Germans killing each other and themselves. Some very horrific and disturbing scenes of the brain-washed SS officers poisoning their own children to death. How can any human being do such a thing? No one -- unless you have gone completely mad, which certainly they had. It also has a detailed account of Hitler's own suicide, among many others.
Incredible cast and acting. Everyone does an amazing job in it. And I had never seen such a close up portrayal of Fuhrer (Hitler). He is superb. The film is very long, but it is so engaging and it is done so well that 2.5 hrs seems to go by in no time.