Der Untergang (Downfall)
2004
****½
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Cast: Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Corinna Harfouch, Ulrich Matthes, Juliane Köhler, Heino Ferch, Christian Berkel, Matthias Habich, Thomas Kretschmann, Michael Mendl, André Hennicke, Ulrich Noethen
As Soviet forces close in on Berlin in April 1945, Adolf Hitler, Eva Braun, Joseph and Magda Goebbels, senior military officers, and other Nazi officials are hiding inside the Führerbunker, taking turns advising the Führer on whether to continue fighting, escape, or surrender. Oliver Hirschbiegel's stellar historical drama depicts the final days of Adolf Hitler and portrays the dictator not as the usual faceless monster but as a broken shell of a man, increasingly detached from reality and unconcerned about the current or future well-being of the German people. The film is also unfliching in its depiction of the blind loyalty and cowardice of those around the leader; in the most harrowing scene, the Goebbels family take their total devotion to the extreme. Bruno Ganz as Hitler leads a wonderful cast. Bernd Eichinger's screenplay is based mostly on Inside Hitler's Bunker by Joachim Fest and Until the Final Hour by Traudl Junge, Hitler's personal secretary, portrayed here by Alexandra Maria Lara.
