Downfall (film)
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| Downfall | |
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| Directed by | Oliver Hirschbiegel |
| Produced by | Bernd Eichinger |
| Written by | Bernd Eichinger |
| Starring | Bruno Ganz Alexandra Maria Lara |
| Music by | Stephan Zacharias |
| Distributed by | Constantin Film Newmarket Films (English subtitles) |
| Release date(s) |  September 16, 2004 February 18, 2005 |
| Running time | 155 minutes |
| Language | German Russian |
| Budget | €13.5 million |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Downfall (German: Der Untergang) is a 2004 German / Austrian film depicting the final ten days of Adolf Hitler in his Berlin bunker and Nazi Germany in 1945, written by Bernd Eichinger, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, and based upon the books: Inside Hitler's Bunker, by historian Joachim Fest; portions of Albert Speer's memoirs; the memoirs of Traudl Junge, one of Hitler's secretaries; Hitler's Last Days: An Eye-Witness Account, by Gerhardt Boldt; doctor Ernst-Günther Schenck's memoirs; and the memoirs of Siegfried Knappe.
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[edit] Synopsis
In the last days of World War Two, the Red Army is fighting its way into Berlin. Deep within his bunker underneath the Reichskanzlei, Adolf Hitler celebrates his last birthday and lives out his final ten days isolated from the world, desperately ordering counterattacks that will never happen, from armies that exist only on maps, commanded by men who are most likely dead. Played by Swiss actor Bruno Ganz, Hitler is presented as he was in the last months of World War II: a sick, exhausted man but dreaming still of a Greater Germany amid the ruins of war-ravaged Berlin and callously ranting against the 'weakness' and 'deserved destruction' of the German citizenry. As the Red Army draws nearer and imminent defeat looms over the Third Reich Hitler is seen alone with his clique which consists of Joseph Goebbels (Ulrich Matthes), Albert Speer (Heino Ferch) and (briefly) SS leader Heinrich Himmler (Ulrich Noethen), along with his personal staff.
Most of the events are depicted from the perspective of Hitler's young personal secretary Traudl Junge (Alexandra Maria Lara). Events outside Hitler's bunker are mostly depicted from the perspective of SS doctor Ernst-Günther Schenck (Christian Berkel). On the day before his death Hitler marries his longtime mistress Eva Braun (Juliane Köhler) and they commit suicide together on April 30, 1945, ten days after Hitler's 56th birthday.
[edit] Plot Summary
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[edit] Introduction
The film begins with a clip from a video interview with the real-life Traudl Junge, who wonders why she decided to work for Adolf Hitler and states her anger at her younger self for not realizing what kind of a monster she was dealing with. Then, the scene is set back to 1942, in Rastenburg, East Prussia, where Miss Traudl Junge and four other applicants vie for the position of secretary to Hitler. They are greeted by Hitler's valet, Heinz Linge, and later by Hitler himself. Upon hearing Traudl comes from Munich, Hitler takes an immediate liking to her and asks her to take dictation as a demonstration of her abilities. Hitler is portrayed as a kind, fatherly employer who loves his dog and overlooks Junge's nervous errors, and she is hired.
[edit] Character introductions
The movie flashes forward to Hitler's 56th birthday on April 20, 1945. Traudl Humps, by now Frau Traudl Junge, is living in the Führerbunker with Gerda Christian and Constanze Manziarly, another secretary and private cook, respectively, for Hitler. Artillery fire wakes the trio, and Generals Wilhelm Burgdorf and Karl Koller explain the Soviets are only 12 kilometres from the city center. Hitler is now depicted as visibly aged, shaking, and in poor humour.
Hitler's birthday reception introduces the characters of Heinrich Himmler and his adjutant Hermann Fegelein, as well as Party Leader Martin Bormann and Walther Hewel of the foreign ministry. Hitler's intention to stay in the city is revealed, as is Fegelein's intention to leave if possible. Hewel and Himmler urge Hitler to try a diplomatic solution, which Hitler rejects out of hand. Two scenes later, Albert Speer arrives, and is introduced alongside Eva Braun; both reject Fegelein's advice to decamp to Bavaria. Speer advises Hitler to "be on the stage when the curtain falls." Eva's character is revealed by the remark "He is the Fuhrer," in other words, he knows what is best.
The scene changes to a large office building, where "Clausewitz" has been put into effect. Papers are being burned and artwork moved. SS-Doctor Ernst-Günther Schenck is introduced, and the audience learns of his responsibility for public safety in Berlin, and the flight of the SS medical infrastructure in the city. Schenck fights with a superior to stay in the city as the SS pull out. In the government quarter, Himmler reveals he is secretly negotiating with the Allies, and Fegelein cautions him against treason.
A subplot revolves around a Hitler Youth soldier, Peter Kranz, and his father, who is missing an arm and begs his son to realize the war is putatively over and to come home. Peter's teenaged commander, a lieutenant in charge of an 88mm anti-aircraft/anti-tank gun, tells the father that he should be proud of his son, who will soon receive a medal from Hitler himself for destroying two Russian tanks that day. The father continues to try and convince the boy and his comrades to leave. They refuse, claiming that they will fight to the last man. Peter runs off, calling his father a coward.
In the Führerbunker, Generals Wilhelm Keitel and Alfred Jodl advise Hitler of the worsening military situation. This scene is notable for featuring the only, very brief appearance of Hermann Goring in the film. Hitler flies into a rage when his impossible orders are not carried out. Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister, is introduced as an obsequious toady, and from his first appearance and for the rest of the film attempts to buttress the morale of the generals with grandiose talk of master plans and secret weapons. SS General Wilhelm Mohnke is also introduced at a bunker briefing, depicted as a square-jawed professional soldier ordered to defend the government district. Mohnke tells Hitler that a lot of civilians have to be evacuated, but this suggestion is refused. After the meeting, the officers agree that the Fuhrer has lost his sense of reality. Fegelein suggests that they tell Hitler about it. However, all rationality is ruled out, since they have made their pledge to Hitler. Meanwhile, Hitler presents medals to the Hitler Youths' most successful tank hunters, including Kranz. He is watched by Goebbels and Speer.
[edit] Main plot
Afterwards, Junge discusses her future with her friends in the bunker, while Schenck and his adjutant camp outside the now emptied hospital. Schenck says that they should go, since they are not much use now. Eva Braun decides to hold a party for the inhabitants of the Bunker. Meanwhile, Hitler discusses his scorched earth policy with Speer. Speer begs Hitler to spare the German people, but Hitler claims that if they fail this test, they are too weak in nature and must be exterminated.
During the party, a shell explodes nearby. The music is interrupted. Eva Braun tries to ignore the shell and turns on the swing music. Junge then begins to feel sick. Suddenly, another shell lands and explodes right outside the windows, which shatter, sending a lot of dust and debris in the hall. The party has to be stopped, and Traudl shrieks in fear as she is led back into the bunker by Gerda.
The scene then shifts to the heat of battle, where General Helmuth Weidling is accused of retreating to the west. He argues that he is only a single kilometer from the front lines. Suddenly, a shell falls and the line is cut off. At this point, he decides to report to the Bunker. Weidling is received by Heer Generals Hans Krebs and Wilhelm Burgdorf. Krebs explains that the Führer has prohibited any western retreat, any officers disobeying are to be arrested and shot on the spot. When Weidling denies this, he is told by Burgdorf to explain himself. Weidling lifts the Iron Cross at his neck and tells Burgdorf indignantly, "Don't you dare use that tone with me!" He is then taken to Hitler's office to give his report on his position. His report impresses the Führer and he is assigned to take command of Berlin's defenses. Weidling is clearly not pleased with his new job. "I'd rather be shot than to have this honour," he mutters. Back in the streets, Kranz is attempting to defend a position from a Russian tank attack. As the Tank Alarm is raised, he tries to jump out of the trench he and a soldier are in, to fire. The soldier tries to stop him, but is shot down by a Russian bullet. As Kranz sees the soldier die, he gets scared, dodges the Russian gunfire and dives into a hole in the ground.
The scene then switches back in the bunker. Hitler is discussing the situation with the generals. Outside, Junge still naively believes that General Felix Steiner will attack and save them. But she is wrong, as Steiner cannot mobilize enough men. Upon learning this, Hitler tells every one to leave the room except the four highest ranking generals present.
Hitler then gives them a loud rebuke that can be heard by the people outside. Gerda begins to cry. When he has finished, Hitler states that he would prefer to shoot himself than to surrender. He offers Gerda and Traudl a flight south, but Traudl refuses to leave, since she cannot face her family.
Eva Braun reassures Hitler that she will not let him send her away, and the two kiss. When they have left the room, the generals have an argument of what to do next. Fegelein says that they should save themselves, while the other generals says that they cannot, since they swore to obey Hitler's will.
Later, Eva Braun takes Traudl and Gerda out for a walk with Blondi, Hitler's dog. This walk is cut short, due to an air raid alarm. The next scene occurs in the streets at night. General Mohnke and his few remaining soldiers are trying to defend a street, but members of the Volkssturm (the German Home Guard) are in the way. He asks for them to move away, and heads back to the Führerbunker. Apparently, they are under Goebbels' command.
Meanwhile, driving along the roads of Berlin, Dr. Schenck and his adjutant hear the sound of gunfire. They stop, and turn off the lights. Fortunately for them, the sounds are coming from a group of Germans. Two old men, far past military age, are in the process of being beaten by the Military Police, apparently for being deserters. Schenck tries to have them freed, but the MP leader says that those two are to be shot, and shoots them dead on the spot, in abject defiance of Schenck's appeal. Schenck can do nothing but watch.
Schenck and Mohnke both arrive at the bunker. Schenck moves past many wounded, and sees a man's leg being amputated without anaesthetic. He meets the attending physician, Dr. Werner Haase, performing the operation, with his assistant, Erna Flegel, and offers to help him. Meanwhile, Mohnke finds Goebbels, while he is arranging for his children to come to the bunker. Mohnke complains that the Volkssturm are being mowed down by the Russians. Since they are not armed, that they cannot fight and are dying in vain. However, Goebbels states that he feels no sympathy. He explains, with a perverted smile and a steadily rising voice, that those people gave the Nazis support, and they are to expect to be killed.
Afterwards, Eva Braun receives a phone call from a drunken Fegelein, her brother-in-law, asking her to leave Berlin. Fegelein has left the bunker, and is sleeping with his mistress. The Goebbels children arrive with their mother Magda, and sing for Hitler. Afterwards, Hitler, Eva, Gerda and Traudl discuss the various ways to commit suicide. At first, Hitler proposes shooting oneself through the mouth. Eva plans to take cyanide, since that will be a painless death. Hitler then gives Gerda and Traudl a cyanide capsule each, just in case they will need it. Eva and Magda Goebbels then start typing their goodbye letters to their loved ones; Eva to her sister and Magda to her adult son Harald Quandt. While their letters are read out, various scenes in Berlin are shown. Among these, Peter's teenage superior officers commit suicide.
We are shown Doctors Haase and Schenck struggling with an operation; Hitler shaking hands with his officers; Hitler taking some documents out of a safe and giving them to Heinz Linge; Linge and Otto Günsche burning the documents outside the bunker with Hitler watching; Schenck having a cigarette outside the bunker after an operation; the wounded and nurses ducking as a shell falls nearby above the hospital bunker; another wounded person brought to Schenck; and finally, the artillery post Peter Kranz served in runs out of ammunition. Most of the Hitler Youth members run away, but a teenage girl, Inge Dombrowski, stays and begs her young commander to shoot her. He obliges, then is so overcome with remorse that he decides to shoot himself.
Junge then walks into Hitler's study to gather his written documents to type up. She sees Hitler staring intently at a portrait of a Prussian King, Frederick the Great. Meanwhile, Peter Kranz finds his friend Inge dead. He cries, and hides from the Russian soldiers. He falls into a small pit and passes out. Later he awakens to the sound of a shell landing, and the crying of several people who have lost their loved ones. He wakes up to find a partially buried body next to him and runs off.
Back in the bunker, General Keitel is ordered to leave, find Karl Dönitz, who Hitler is convinced is gathering troops in the north, and help him in planning an offensive to recover Romanian oilfields. In spite of the absurdity of that order, Keitel leaves. Soon afterwards, a telegram is received by Rochus Misch, Hitler's radio officer. It is from Reichmarschall Hermann Göring, head of the Luftwaffe. It is read aloud to Hitler by Bormann: "My Fuhrer, following your decision to stay in Berlin, do I have your approval as Vice Chancellor to immediately take charge of the entire Reich with the necessary power and authority? If I receive no answer by 10 pm, I will assume that you have been incapacitated. I will serve the well being of our people and our fatherland."
In spite of Walter Hewel trying to defend Göring, Hitler breaks out in rage, calling Göring a morphine-addicted traitor. He orders that he has to be arrested and removed from office. This is when Albert Speer arrives. Speer meets Mrs. Goebbels and tries to persuade her to leave with the children, but she refuses, since she will not let her children grow up in a world without national socialism. Afterwards, he meets Eva Braun, who tells him that she is not afraid to stay with the Führer. Finally, he meets Hitler himself, and confesses that he had been ignoring and acting contrary to most of his orders given over the past several months. At the same time, he reinforces his personal loyalty to Hitler. This brings Hitler to tears. Speer leaves. It is the last time Speer will see Hitler alive. Meanwhile, Peter Kranz has finally returned home to his parents.
Back in the bunker, Hitler is surprised to see General Robert Ritter von Greim and flying ace Hanna Reitsch arrive at the bunker. The two had flown in through heavy gunfire to see Hitler, and von Greim had injured his leg. Later, in a meal, Hitler appoints General von Greim as commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, and General Field Marshal. During the meal, Linge comes in with a report. It states that Himmler has attempted to negotiate surrender to the Allies through Count Folke Bernadotte. As a result, Hitler is enraged, and considers that to be the worst betrayal of all. He asks Greim and Reitsch to leave to join Dönitz immediately to ensure that Himmler receives his just punishment. He also orders Gruppenführer Fegelein, Himmler's adjutant, to be brought to him. However, he is reported missing.
After the meal, Ernst-Robert Grawitz, a senior SS doctor, requests leave to depart from Berlin, since most of Himmler's SS medical staff have already left. Hitler simply says that Himmler is a traitor. He assures Grawitz that he has done no wrong and that Grawitz's (unspecified) "experiments" will in future be recognised as beneficial to humanity. Therefore, his application to leave Berlin is unacceptable. Meanwhile, Günsche enters, so Grawitz is asked to leave. Gunsche tells Hitler that he cannot find Fegelein. As a result, Hitler is again enraged. He yells at Günsche, telling him that Fegelein is a deserter and traitor. Back at home, Grawitz resignedly kills himself and his family with a pair of hand grenades, while they are having dinner.
Eventually, military police officers find Fegelein, nude, passed out and highly intoxicated, in his apartment. His mistress is also present. He is arrested and brought back to the bunker. Eva Braun tries to plead for Fegelein's life, but is refused. Hitler states that it is his will that Fegelein be court-martialled and shot.
In the following meeting with the Generals, Hitler is told by General Weidling that the Russians have broken through everywhere. There are no reserves, and air support has stopped. General Mohnke tells him that the Red Army is now 300 to 400 metres from the Chancellery, and that they can only hold out for a day or two at most. Weidling suggests that they try to break through the encirclement and attempt to escape to make a last stand. However, both Goebbels and Hitler are against this, since they don't want Hitler to disappear like an inglorious fugitive. Before leaving, Hitler reassures the gathered officers that General Walther Wenck is on his way to save them all. He asks Krebs to telegraph Keitel, regarding the location of Wenck.
When he has left the room, the Generals discuss whether Wenck can hold off the Russians. Most of the Generals know that there is no hope. However, Krebs and Burgdorf are so obsessed with the need to obey Hitler's will that they have lost all common sense. Krebs has failed to inform Hitler that Wenck cannot attack, and Burgdorf yells that they will never surrender. Meanwhile, Gruppenführer Fegelein is dragged out to an open square and shot.
Some time later, Traudl Junge dressed up in her best clothes and gets ready for Hitler's wedding. She dictates the Führer's political testament for him. Meanwhile, the civil registrar has arrived. While Traudl is typing the testament, Minister Goebbels enters, looking very depressed. He says that Hitler has ordered him to leave Berlin. Having always obeyed Hitler's order, he will not obey this one, and stand by the Fuhrer. He asks Traudl to dictate his personal testament as well.
While she is typing, Hitler is getting married to Eva Braun. He is witnessed by Goebbels, Bormann and Generals Krebs and Burgdorf. In the streets, General Mohnke runs across a heavily bombarded street to enter the Führerbunker. He spots a soldier wounded by a blast, and carries him to safety. He reports to the Führer, and tells him that they can hold out for no longer than 20 hours. He is told that the Western democracies are decadent, and that they will be defeated by the well-disciplined people of the East.
In the next meeting with the Generals, Günsche brings in General Keitel's reply. It seems that all of the main armies are encircled or cannot continue their assault. Hitler is about to leave the room upon hearing this, but he is asked for instructions by Weidling. Hitler states that he will never surrender, and he forbids everyone else to surrender as well. He is led out of the room by Günsche. Hitler tells him that he is about to commit suicide with his new wife, and entrusts Günsche the task of disposing of his remains, so that the Russians cannot place it in some museum after the war. Günsche reluctantly obeys what he conceives as a terrible order.
Günsche's first step is to gather 200 litres of petrol. He asks Misch to phone SS-Sturmbannführer Erich Kempka, and tells him to gather all the petrol from the parked vehicles in the garage. Meanwhile, in the hospital bunker, Dr. Schenck finds Dr. Haase, telling him that Hitler needs him. He notices that Haase is suffering from tuberculosis, but he still comes. He arrives at the bunker, and is escorted by Schenck and his nurse, named Erna Flegel.
They find some officers and generals drinking heavily. However, Günsche, the only sober person in the room sends them to Hitler. Upon seeing the withering Hitler, Flegel bursts into tears, begging Hitler to reassure them in the final victory. She is taken out to the room by Dr. Schenck, and is offered drinks. Hewel, Krebs and Burgdorf are also present, as well as a sergeant called Fritz Tornow (who seems to be cracking the most jokes about their hopeless situation). They are joined by Junge and Eva Braun, who tells the Generals to call her Frau Hitler.
Meanwhile, several soldiers have arrived with the petrol. Their leader reports in, but is simply asked to drink along by General Krebs. Schenck asks to leave the table, since he is not used to drinking heavily. He goes to use the toilet. He overhears a conversation between Dr. Haase and Hitler. The doctor advises Hitler to take poison while he shoots himself. Since the cyanide takes effect in one to two seconds, there will be enough time to pull the trigger. Inside the toilet, he notices Hitler's dog Blondi being tied up inside one of the stalls. When he is done, he sees Hitler watching Blondi being put down with cyanide. After several seconds of whimpering, the dog drops dead and is carried out of the room.
Afterwards, Eva Braun has her last conversation with Traudl Junge. Eva Braun confesses that she never liked Blondi. She leaves one of her best coats to Traudl Junge and asks her to try and escape. Traudl Junge comments on Hitler herself. She thinks that Hitler can actually be a caring person to the people who work for him, it's only that he can say terrible things at times. When Traudl Junge has left the room, Eva dresses up for the suicide.
[edit] Climax
Hitler has his final meal in silence with his cook, Constanze Manziarly, and the female secretaries. He bids farewell to the bunker staff, gives Magda Goebbels his Golden Party Badge (marking original members of the NSDAP), and retreats to his room with Eva Braun. Despite Frau Goebbels' pleas, the pair commit suicide and the bodies are burned in the courtyard outside the bunkers' emergency exit.
Hitler's demise is juxtaposed with the situation in Berlin, where not only is combat raging between German and Soviet forces, but civilians - witnessed by Peter Kranz - are being executed by German security forces for not continuing the fight. After the announcement of the death of Adolf Hitler, officers and others within the bunker complex immediately and simultaneously light up cigarettes en masse. This is an allusion to Hitler's staunch opposition to smoking. Another element of Hitler's life Downfall alludes to is the fact that he was a vegetarian.
General Krebs attempts to negotiate a surrender with terms with Marshal Vasily Chuikov, who insists on an unconditional surrender. The decision to surrender is not unanimous among the Germans, who still feel duty bound to the dead Führer. The murder of the Goebbels children is recreated in painful detail, from the involvement of Dr. Ludwig Stumpfegger in preparing sedatives, to Frau Goebbels' placement of cyanide capsules in their mouths as they slept. Krebs and Burgdorf commit suicide, leaving Rochus Misch as the last survivor in the bunker.
At last, General Weidling arranges for a cease fire and he pleads via a loudspeaker van for the fighting to stop. Peter Kranz returns home to find his parents killed by security forces.
[edit] Denouement
In a scene without dialogue, Dr. and Frau Goebbels commit suicide in the grounds outside the bunker. Inside the hospital bunker, General Mohnke asks Dr. Schenck to leave with them, and Schenck parts company with Dr. Haase. As they leave, Constanze Manziarly is seen contemplating her cyanide capsule (her real-life fate remains unknown).
The majority of bunker survivors attempt a breakout, but many are killed by Russian infantrymen. As night falls, Hewel and Schenck ponder their continued existence. As the breakout continues the next day, Junge and Christian are advised to cross the Russian lines; the latter refuses, and Junge makes her way through the Russians, joined by Peter Kranz.
General Mohnke, commanding the last remnants of the male bunker survivors, asks for opinions on what to do next. One young officer declares that they cannot outlive the Führer. And that they must shoot to the very last bullet before committing suicide. The assembled men agree, as does Hewel, however, when an officer arrives to bring news that Berlin has surrendered, only the young man and Hewel shoot themselves.
The film ends with Junge and Kranz having escaped Berlin, riding a bicycle on a tranquil, heavily wooded country road, towards the sunset. An epilogue is shown, detailing what happened to many of the historical characters in the film.
[edit] Conclusion
Finally, another scene of the interview with an old Traudl Junge is shown. She states that the Nuremberg Trials made her aware of the horrors of the Holocaust, but that she used to excuse herself on basis of her youth and ignorance and not being personally guilty of the atrocities of the Nazis. However, when she saw the memorial of Sophie Scholl, of her own age and executed on the same year when she was first employed by Hitler, she realized that she too could have found out about things and acted differently.
[edit] Commentary
While treatment of the Third Reich is still a sensitive subject among many Germans even 60 years after World War II's end, the film broke one of the last remaining taboos by its depiction of Adolf Hitler in a central role by a German speaking actor (as opposed to using actual film footage of Hitler).
The film does not provide commentary on the crimes perpetrated by the Nazi regime. Indeed, since most of the plotline takes place within the Führerbunker, the Holocaust and other events are hardly ever mentioned.
The film's impending release in 2004 provoked a debate in German film magazines and newspapers. Germany's tabloid newspaper Bild asked, "Are we allowed to show the monster as a human being?"
Concern about the film's depiction of Hitler led New Yorker film critic David Denby to observe[1] that
"As a piece of acting, Ganz's work is not just astounding, it's actually rather moving. But I have doubts about the way his virtuosity has been put to use. By emphasizing the painfulness of Hitler's defeat Ganz has […] made the dictator into a plausible human being. Considered as biography, the achievement (if that's the right word) […] is to insist that the monster was not invariably monstrous—that he was kind to his cook and his young female secretaries, loved his German shepherd, Blondi, and was surrounded by loyal subordinates. We get the point: Hitler was not a supernatural being; he was common clay raised to power by the desire of his followers. But is this observation a sufficient response to what Hitler actually did?"[1]
With respect to German uneasiness about "humanizing" Hitler, Denby continued that
"A few journalists in [Germany] wondered aloud whether the "human" treatment of Hitler might not inadvertently aid the neo-Nazi movement. But in his many rants in [the film] Hitler says that the German people do not deserve to survive, that they have failed him by losing the war and must perish—not exactly the sentiments […] that would spark a recruitment drive. This Hitler may be human, but he's as utterly degraded a human being as has ever been shown on the screen, a man whose every impulse leads to annihilation."[1]
After previewing the film, Hitler biographer Sir Ian Kershaw wrote in The Guardian[2] that
"Knowing what I did of the bunker story, I found it hard to imagine that anyone (other than the usual neo-Nazi fringe) could possibly find Hitler a sympathetic figure during his bizarre last days. And to presume that it might be somehow dangerous to see him as a human being — well, what does that thought imply about the self-confidence of a stable, liberal democracy? 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."[2]
Kershaw went on to comment that
"Of all the screen depictions of the Führer, even by famous actors such as Alec Guinness or Anthony Hopkins, this is the only one which to me is compelling. Part of this is the voice. Ganz has Hitler's voice to near perfection. It is chillingly authentic."[2]
Addressing other critics like Denby, Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert wrote[3]:
"Admiration I did not feel. Sympathy I felt in the sense that I would feel it for a rabid dog, while accepting that it must be destroyed. I do not feel the film provides "a sufficient response to what Hitler actually did," because I feel no film can, and no response would be sufficient."[3]
"As we regard this broken and pathetic Hitler, we realize that he did not alone create the Third Reich, but was the focus for a spontaneous uprising by many of the German people, fueled by racism, xenophobia, grandiosity and fear. He was skilled in the ways he exploited that feeling, and surrounded himself by gifted strategists and propagandists, but he was not a great man, simply one armed by fate to unleash unimaginable evil. It is useful to reflect that racism, xenophobia, grandiosity and fear are still with us, and the defeat of one of their manifestations does not inoculate us against others."[3]
Director Oliver Hirschbiegel confirmed that the film's makers sought to give Hitler a three-dimensional personality.
"We know from all accounts that he was a very charming man —a man who managed to seduce a whole people into barbarism."[4]
The movie incorporates, as introduction and conclusion, the struggle for self-forgiveness of Traudl Junge, as voiced in the documentary Im toten Winkel. It was nominated for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in the 77th Academy Awards. The film also won the BBC's 2005 BBC 4 World Cinema[5] award.
The film is set mostly in and around the Führerbunker. Director Oliver Hirschbiegel made an effort to accurately reconstruct the look and atmosphere of the bunker through eyewitness accounts, survivors' memoirs and other historical sources. According to his commentary on the DVD, Der Untergang was filmed in a district of Saint Petersburg, Russia, which, with its many buildings designed by German architects, was said to resemble many parts of 1940s Berlin to an astonishing degree.
[edit] Criticisms
The film has been criticised for its presentation of some characters apart from Hitler. Giles MacDonogh wrote:
"The film turned a butcher like SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke into an honourable soldier and the SS doctor Ernst-Günther Schenck into something approaching a Hollywood hero, despite the fact that he had carried out experiments on the prisoners in Nazi concentration camps."[6]
Additionally, German film director Wim Wenders (who was not involved with the film's production) wrote a substantial editorial piece for the 21 October 2004 edition of the German newspaper Die Zeit, in which he laid out several criticisms of the film. Specifically, he identified the filmmakers' collaboration with a history professor as a strategic move to compile cultural capital and move the film beyond the reach of reprehensibility, challenge, or contradiction by writers or critics unwilling to engage the material other than by pointing out historical inaccuracies; the film, he felt, broadcast the statement: »Wir wissen, wovon wir reden« ("We know what we're talking about"). Further, Wenders argued that Der Untergang could not be seen as presenting anything other than an uncritical viewpoint toward the barbarism of its subject matter, and accused the filmmakers of Verharmlosung (rendering harmless). Wenders supported this observation with close readings of the film's first scene, and of Hitler's final scene, suggesting that in each case a particular set of cinematographic and editorial choices left each scene emotionally charged, resulting in a glorifying effect.[7]
The film's "sanitized" ending has also been the subject of criticism. In the film, the women in the bunker manage to escape or disappear. The truth was far more gruesome. Together with others in the bunker, Gerda Christian, Traudl Junge, Else Krüger and Constanze Manziarly left the bunker on May 1st under SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke's leadership. This group slowly made its way north hoping to link up with a German army holdout on the Prinzenallee. The group, hiding in a cellar, was captured by the Soviets on the morning of 2 May.
Like thousands of other German women during the fall of Berlin in 1945, Gerda Christian was repeatedly gang raped by soldiers of the Red Army in the woods near Berlin. Likewise, Traudl Junge was raped repeatedly by Soviet soldiers, and was subsequently held for a year as the "personal prisoner" of a Russian major. And at least one author asserts that Junge suffered a fractured skull while resisting a gang rape.
And finally, despite the film stating Manziarly vanished in 1945, Junge recounts Manziarly being taken into an U-Bahn tunnel by two Soviet soldiers, reassuring the group that "They are just going to see my papers."
[edit] Cast
[edit] Bibliography
- Fest, Joachim Inside Hitler's Bunker : The Last Days of the Third Reich (ISBN)
- Junge, Traudl, and Melissa Müller: Until the Final Hour : Hitler's Last Secretary Published by Arcade Publishing; 1st U.S. edition (April 2, 2004) ISBN
- O'Donnell, James P., The Bunker (ISBN)
- Vande Winkel, Roel, 'Hitler's Downfall, a film from Germany (Der Untergang, 2004)', in Engelen, L. and R. Vande Winkel (eds.), Perspectives on European Film and History. Ghent, 2007, Academia Press, pp. 182-219. ISBN 97 890 3821082 7
- Willi Bischof (Hg.): Filmri: ss. Studien über den Film "Der Untergang". Unrast Verlag, 2005, ISBN (Studies about the Film)
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Denby, David. David Denby's comments on Der Untergang. The New Yorker.
- ^ a b c Kershaw, Ian (2004-09-17). The human Hitler. The Guardian.
- ^ a b c Ebert, Roger (2005-03-11). Downfall. Chicago Sun-Times.
- ^ Eckardt, Andy (2004-09-16). Film showing Hitler's soft side stirs controversy. NBC News. MSNBC.
- ^ BBC 4 World Cinema
- ^ MacDonogh, Giles; Henrik Eberle, Igor Saleyev, Otto Gunsche, Heinz Linge, Joseph Stalin, Fyodor Parparov (2005-10-30). "xviii", in Matthias Uhl: The Hitler Book: The Secret Dossier Prepared For Stalin From The Interrogations of Hitler's Personal Aides, Hardcover (in English), PublicAffairs, 370. ISBN 1586483668.
- ^ Wenders, Wim (2004-10-21). Tja, dann wollen wir mal (German). Die Zeit.
[edit] External links
- Der Untergang at the Internet Movie Database
- Der Untergang at Rotten Tomatoes
- Der Untergang Official site (in German)
- Official French site
- Downfall - The Official Movie Website (U.S.A.)
- The Downfall - estimation - events - exchange Interviews, background and forum
- Oliver Hirschbiegel Interview
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