Movie "Downfall" (About Hitler's last days)

[peleliuexplorer]

Who has seen it and what do you think? I rented it tonight and thought the acting was outstanding as well as the story.

Would appreciate comments, both positive and negative.

Great flick!

-Eric

[Jono]

I thought it was fantastic. Its in a field of its own at the moment I think.
Bought it on DVD

[Rob E.]

I am pretty sure a good portion of this messageboard has seen and or own it.

I thought it was a great movie, very convincing Hitler!

[SwordFish]

I agree. I'm sure most of us have seen it. Alot of us own it. Kinda' goes hand in hand with a TR collector/WW2 historian.

Good flick. Based on accounts from Trudy Jung, one of AHs personal assitants, experiences....with some embelishments and flare for story plot. I also believe one of the SS EM guards who survived also contributed and confirmed Jungs details of the last hours in the Fuhrer bunker.

Subtitles. If you can't read (English) or speak German fluently, you may not enjoy it

[Daniele C]

I seen it both in Italian spoken Language and in German with English Subtitles.

Ive to say that you have to put the German Language and put wotever subtitles you need to enjoy it!
Great Film!

[Nico C]

I seen it both in Italian spoken Language and in German with English Subtitles.

Ive to say that you have to put the German Language and put wotever subtitles you need to enjoy it!
Great Film!

I totally agree!

[David Patrick]

I agree, a superb film. I watched it for the 5th time the other evening and it had lost none of its magic. Super and convincing characterisation and our Fuhrer was played to a tee. All in all 8/10.

I would love it if more movies of this calibre were to me made about Third Recich personalities. God knows there is no shortage of 'interesting' individuals and twists and turns/intrigue.

I can picture it now............"Long long ago, on a farm somewhere in Bavaria, a bespectacled, slim somewhat bookish young man scatters feed for his chickens whilst singing the Horst Wessel song with teutonic gusto. The snow-capped mountains in the distance filled his heart with joy and reminded him of the greatness of Deutschland. With that he plonked down his bucket of chicken feed and set his sights on.....destiny..... to be continued".

Think Sound of music crossed with Schindler's List.

[stuart a.]

i agree
a great film and the guy who plays hitler is the best ia have seen,have to agree with others as well the only way to really appreciate this film is to have the language in german and use the subtuitles to understand it (if like me you cant speak german) hate films where hitler and others speak in american or britsh accents
stu

[bigschuss]

Yes, I love this movie and also bought it on DVD. Besides a great movie, when you watch the bonus features such as the interviews with the producers and actors, you realize that from the very start, they are all historians. They set out to a make a movie that followed closely the factual accounts of those last days. I watched it for the first time just after finishing Ian Kershaw's biography of AH, and I must say that the movie does seem to parallel the historical accounts in the book.

I have a question for somebody who is a native speaker of German. Hitler supposedly spoke with a rough, Austrian accent. Did Bruno Ganz speak with this accent in the film? To my untrained ear, it does sound like he is speaking differently from some of the other actors.

[Stahlhelm]

Downfall is a true masterpiece! I literally cannot say enough good things about it. The acting is beyond excellent, the sets, props, and everything else are so real that any absorbed viewer easily gets the feeling that he/she is also in the bunker with Hitler! It's just that real. This movie could not have been done any better. Most of the actors even look amazingly like the real people they portay--especially Bruno Ganz, Hitler...

What's better is it's based on the actual events in the bunker, as witnessed and documented by more than one person of the period. It's actually based on two different books--Blindspot, by Traudl Junge and Until the Final Hour by I'm not sure who. There is even a movie length documentary interviewing Traudl shortly before her death. Blindspot is also the title of the Documentary. At first, you might think that a movie length documentary interviewing one person in the same place could be a bit tedious. However, make no mistake in assuming that. Watch it, and you will know what I mean. You'll never even think of the time, and you even want to watch it again. I also highly recommend those two books and the documentary as companion reading and watching.

I could, of course, go on and on praising this movie, but, as someone else above already said, I think most of us here already own a copy or have at least already seen it. If you haven't already seen it, don't waste anymore time missing it. Go ahead and see it NOW!

Oh, and as others have mentioned, don't even think about watching it in the English dubbed option. Read the German subtitles! Could you ever imagine Hitler speaking English in his final hours in the bunker?

Chris

[james m]

I wonder if this member of the cast has anything to do with the movies popularity??
Jim

[BrianK]

No subtitles needed here.....

[Stahlhelm]

I wonder if this member of the cast has anything to do with the movies popularity??
Jim

Wow! Thanks for the visuals, Jim! I was wondering how that gal looked without all the Third Reich attire. I knew she was good looking, but she even exceeds my already high excpectations in that photo!

It looks like that movie isn't such a "Downfall" after all!

Chris

[joelhall]

was it not also based on the papers of albert speer?

i love this film - not just the subject but the acting is great too

i actually did a pot about this on 'the forum that shal not be named' is anyones interesting. just in case ive made any major mistakes!!!

http://www.************************/...ic=54413&st=20

i have to say i have the english subtitles on. my german is sketchy a lot of the long scenes are hard to follow properly for me.

oh and to bigschuss - i believe ganz is an austrian so im assuming the accent was spot on

[joelhall]

oh.

hardly shocking but... oh haha.

il copy and paste my post it was about the historical accuracy and a very short review so now you can all pick holes in it for me

ah yes downfall.

this is an exceptional film, especially in that its was made by russians and germans, and in russia no less! also the casting is first rate (and has thomas kretchsmann, alexandra lara and heinrich schmieder, as well as a few others who are well known outside germany, all talented actors (though if youve seen this film youll already know that). bruno ganz in his character of hitler was utterly amazing to watch, in fact i dont think anyone could have done this better short of hitler himself!

a couple of notes on accuracy. from what i am aware there are firstly two generally accepted stories of how the goebbels' died. both involved cyanide, but with an ss man either shooting them both, or more commonly that first magda took poison and was shot in the back of the head by her husband who then killed himself in the same manner as hitler, ie biting on a cyanide capsule and shooting himself through the head.

also with fegelein. he was found to be missing and taken BACK to the bunker. he was demoted to rottenfuhrer and once himmlers treachery was established, he was executed (and supposedly buried) in the garden of the reichschancery. i believe he actually was found at home when he had left the bunker.

also its been stated that ganz looks too old. according to contemporary accounts hitler was quite ill in the final year or two and looked many years older than his true age of 56.

there is also the question of the loud gunshot, as witness testimony is very conflicting on this point, although it does suggest that not many heard it around the bunker.

also i have not seen the evidence to back the claim as stated at the end that bormann committed suicide.

as for the actual suicide scene, this really would have been decided on what was best for the film, as many of the testimonies conflict as to what exactly happened.

lastly on this there are a number of characters which were ficticious and added for the screenplay, such as the young hitler youth boy, his father, etc.

however even the buildings were convincing, as they were in st petersburg and were designed by no less than schinkel (of iron cross fame!!!!)

i should state however that the above is based on witness testimony and the truth is not known 100%, though in some cases it is very close. also remember this film was based on memoirs, such as those of speer and junge.

there have of course been complaints about the personal portrayal of certain people, such as mohnke, being made to seem not evil enough, although as historians of this period we know that this film deals with those final days, and of course that those ss 'monsters' however vile their actions were human nonetheless. however this is something that is thrown up whenever anything to do with the third reich comes into the public domain, and shouldnt really be an issue when considering the subject matter of this film.

of course the third reich will forever be linked with the holocaust an other atrocities, and rightly so. but the aim of this film, from both and entertainment and historical point of view is to deal with the end of the war in europe from the point of view of being in hitlers bunker, so without wishing to seem in defence of anything the nazis stood for, these points are besides the point with regard to this film
to be fair though, we do get the ss insight, such as when mohnke states that in the battle for berlin they will fight until the last man, and we also see the ideology of the hitler youth in trying to defend berlin at all costs against impossible odds.

not many people of course are that well read on the fall of the third reich. so there have been many criticisms, such as an attempt to make the viewer have sympathy for hitler. as it happens hitler had a breakdown in he run up to his suicide, and depression was no stranger to him. likewise when mohnke talks to the fuhrer about the women and children etc, we must bear in mind these were GERMANS and he was an ss officer, idealistic and concerned for the german people before others.

of course nazism will always be a sore topic, and will always lead to controversy - but then with all films that have this affect noone forces us to watch it (how many people vetoed u-751 as i did for example?)

however the portrayal of hitler was exemplary (i believe ganz must have made a good study of hitler to prepare for this), and almost all of the others were first rate too. from a historical view from what i know i thought the characters of the goebbels' (especially of magda leading up to her childrens murder, and the scene where she begs hitler not to commit suicide. joseph himself was well played too, his pronunciation and walk were done well, as was the way he spoke and emphasised with his speeches), hitler and braun (her noted childishness an fantasy-like mind) well very well potrayed, as was the brief glimpse we got of the fanaticism of hannah reitsch, and (though based only what ive seen of him in interviews, although he is now dead) otto gunsche was well portrayed characteristically.

the scenes of breifings were well played by all, the generals being very realistic in their performances.

having noted all this there is only one more thing to say on this film. downfall i a masterpiece of historical film making, and for anyones views, it would make great viewing for anyone to expand their knowledge of the end of the war in the eto. the set and acting was supreme, as was the attention to small detail, and of course the feeling you get when you watch it - of utter destruction and in some instances dispair of what is happening all around, while mostly in the claustrophobic bunker!

it really is one of the best films relating to this time ever made, great to watch, and the fact that russians and germans could work on this together, dealing with so painful a subject makes it even more so.