Germany / Italy / Austria (2004)
Length: 156 minutes
Genre: Historical drama
Directed by: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Screenplay Bernd Eichinger
Produced by: Bernd Eichinger
Starring: Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Juliane Köhler, Heino Ferch, Christian Berkel, Matthias Habich, Thomas Kretschmann and Michael Mendl

Berlin, 1945. Traudl Junge, one of the secretaries of Adolf Hitler and also a woman who never supported Hitler's ideology, tells us the story of the final days, spent in a bunker with many loyal supporters, of Adolf Hitler and also the Third Reich as the Russian military troops invade Germany in an attempt to capture Berlin, the capital city of Germany.

Even though Western nations share their culture in a common way, it can be said that the German’s perspective of the Second World War (1939-1945) is not well known. With this very gripping historical movie that must be straightforwardly perceived as a masterpiece, German movie director Oliver Hirschbiegel not only offers us one of the most ambitious movie in the history of international cinema, but he also delivers a very poignant film on the end of the Third Reich as it was probably seen through the eyes of Adolf Hitler and those who were close to him, which means in other words his loyal companions.

As it was mentioned in the ending credit scene, The Downfall is based on the books Inside Hitler’s Bunker, from Joachim Fest, and Until the Final Hours, from Traudl Junge and Melissa Müller. Even though we clearly see that Adolf Hitler, a German political man and dictator who received the title of chancellor in 1933, is the main character on which the story is centred, a great part of The Downfall’s story is seen through the eyes of Traudl Junge, one of Adolf Hitler’s secretaries. Besides Junge’s point of view, we also get to see the point of view expressed by Hitler’s companions and also the point of view of some civilians while witnessing the upcoming end of the Nazis’ political regime exerted on one of the most militaristic nation of the world back then.

Set against the background of the Russian invasion of Germany in 1945, The Downfall tells, as it was said in the previous paragraph, the story of what many people felt when they were aware that sooner or later, the Germany that they knew under the Nazis’ regime was about to fall. Evidently, The Downfall, as some of my cousins have said, is not as exciting as it could have potentially been, but while noticing such a fact, we must understand that the movie rather captures and explores the depth of a very diversified psychological dimension that can be found in the characters’ mind, whether they occupy a very important role or a lesser role.

In fact, Traudl Junge, the young woman of twenty-two years old who was one of Adolf Hitler’s secretaries, is probably the character who certainly helps us to understand the fear that people had, since she doesn’t know what was the real meaning of nazism. Furthermore, while watching the special features contained in the movie’s second disc, we learn that Traudl Junge has never been an ardent supporter of Hitler’s Nazi ideology. With this neutral perception of the end of the Third Reich that comes from Traudl Junge who tells the story of the Nazi regime's final days, we discover most of the things behind the German people’s “admiration” for Hitler back then. While they were seeing that Adolf Hitler has gone crazy (he ordered people to defend themselves against Russian soldiers while they didn’t stand a chance), some officers exhorted Hitler to leave Berlin and make Germany surrender “for the welfare of civilians” and others blindly trusted him whatever he did.

Traudl Junge [last lines]: All these horrors I've heard of during the Nurnberg process, these six million Jews, other thinking people or people of another race, who perished. That shocked me deeply. But I hadn't made the connection with my past. I assured myself with the thought of not being personally guilty. And that I didn't know anything about the enormous scale of it. But one day I walked by a memorial plate of Sophie Scholl in the Franz-Joseph-Strasse. I saw that she was about my age and she was executed in the same year I came to Hitler. And at that moment I actually realised that a young age isn't an excuse. And that it might have been possible to get to know things.

Of course, while being a sad historical movie that reveals a very terrifying and painful chapter in the History of Germany, The Downfall is, as many people argued, a movie on disillusionment and the loss of innocence. In fact, the German people, who are having the opportunity to speak up their mind and make some choice by following their personal interests, are all torn between two options: to blindly follow Hitler’s “national-socialist” ideals or to refuse to follow it. Throughout this fascinating German movie, these two options are symbolized with moving scenes. For instance, some who decided to not following Hitler’s “national-socialist” ideals did disobey to Hitler’s orders or commit a suicide by being convinced that it’s the best thing that could happen to them.

The cast members’ incredible performance is definitely a good reason why you should really consider watching this movie. Even though the actors are all memorable in their own way, the two members of the cast who capture our attention are Swiss actor Bruno Ganz, as Adolf Hitler, and Alexandra Maria Lara, as Traudl Junge. Even though we all hate Adolf Hitler for what he really is, Bruno Ganz still manages to portray Adolf Hitler in a way that makes us discover him the way our history books wouldn’t allow us to do so because The Downfall adopts an unbiased stance and presents the real facts without prejudice. Alexandra Maria Lara, as Traudl Junge, portrays the innocent girl that Traudl Junge was and as the movie advances in its slow narrative evolution, Traudl Junge progressively starts to lose her innocence.

Finally, even though The Downfall is a very hard movie to watch because of its terrifying violence, this German cinematographic masterpiece must be perceived as what it is: a true historical movie that shows real facts without any prejudices in order to learn us a very terrifying and painful chapter in the History of Germany. As you will probably notice it, The Downfall is not an action movie that is meant for entertainment. In fact, this gripping historical drama is a movie that offers a memorable psychological study of the German people's perceptions of the end of the Third Reich. Now that I've seen this movie, I can't wait to see the movie on Sophie Scholl, which should be coming, in the next months, on DVD in Canada.

Users' Average Movie Rating: (5/5)
Movie Review Rating: 5 out of 5 members agree with this review.

Doomfest on Jul 26th 2006

Nice article and I really liked this movie .

francis on Jul 26th 2006

great review! i also loved the movie

flyingdagger on Jul 27th 2006

Yeah, I really loved that movie and by the way, I have one question (since it's a spoiler, you must high-light the following question to see it): Why did the wife of Joseph Goebbels "killed" her children with a medication before she makes them sleep?

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