Saw Downfall last weekend, and with today being the sixtieth anniversary of Hitler's death and the fall of Berlin (the actual surrender was May 2, but you know what I mean), and SBS having a Battle of Berlin documentary on tonight, thought I might get around to an actual kinda sorta review...
First off, acknowledgement must be given to the audience. The biggest, most varied and mainstream mix of cinemagoers this reviewer has seen for an arthouse or foreign film since Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.
Secondly, this movie does not show Hitler and the Nazi state in a sympathetic light. Bruno Ganz as Adolf Hitler shows us how the Fuhrer is eerily both out of touch and completely understanding of the situation in the final days. Flying into rages at his lack of power over the German military and insubordination, contrasted with discussions of the best or most painless ways to commit suicide, this is Hitler played as a man, albeit an insane, frightened man, not the monster he is so often easily portrayed as.
(If we forget that the Nazi Party was a group of men who were a byproduct of and then molded circumstances, it is far too easy to write the issue off as a historical or German problem. It could happen again if we are not vigilant. Here endeth the lesson and back to the review.)
It is a strength of the movie that it shows all the Nazi and Wehrmacht high command as humans. When you see Himmler, Speer and the others in living colour for the first time, it is creepy, but the impact of the uniforms, insignia and ceremonies fade as the movie progresses, to the point where they are merely background.
Alexandra Maria Lara as Traudl Junge brings an everywoman view to the madness of the bunker. Frau Traudl does not impact greatly as a character, apart from her blind devotion to the Fuhrer, and the bookends where the real Traudl speaks.
There is a great duality about the situation, the restrained madness below ground and the mass slaughter above. The Hitler Youth and Volksturm being mowed down, the SS dispensing summary 'justice', the non existent air force and understrength armies Hitler was sure he would win the war with - the invading Red Army is barely in the movie, as if they were a minor irritant while a whole corrupt system was folding in on itself, gorging on the young.
When Hitler is told that 15,000 officers have been killed aboveground, he merely replies that is what the young are for. However, if there is one master villain of the piece, it is not Hitler but instead Goebbels, who the movie implies was the last true believer - his wife, Magda, would prefer to die than live beyond the Third Reich, and takes her six children with her.
The Reich may have been an evil regime, but for the German people, the period covered by Downfall really was the end of civilisation as they knew it.
The Battle of Berlin and the end of the twelve year madness is a well worn story, but Downfall is the closest to the reality of those days we will probably ever get on screen. There are powerhouse performances by the cast, bringing some of the most evil people in recent history to life, as well as those that were merely following orders. This movie could easily slot into any history curriculum about the Third Reich, and that is probably the strongest compliment that can be said about films based on real life events.
For fans of history or war films, Downfall is a must see movie. Even though the outcome and events are never in doubt, the film plays well as a psychological drama as well. Although personally not as moving as Hotel Rwanda (due merely to the length of time since 1945 as opposed to 1994), Downfall is just as powerful a movie. Not just for arthouse foreign film afficionados.
First off, acknowledgement must be given to the audience. The biggest, most varied and mainstream mix of cinemagoers this reviewer has seen for an arthouse or foreign film since Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.
Secondly, this movie does not show Hitler and the Nazi state in a sympathetic light. Bruno Ganz as Adolf Hitler shows us how the Fuhrer is eerily both out of touch and completely understanding of the situation in the final days. Flying into rages at his lack of power over the German military and insubordination, contrasted with discussions of the best or most painless ways to commit suicide, this is Hitler played as a man, albeit an insane, frightened man, not the monster he is so often easily portrayed as.
(If we forget that the Nazi Party was a group of men who were a byproduct of and then molded circumstances, it is far too easy to write the issue off as a historical or German problem. It could happen again if we are not vigilant. Here endeth the lesson and back to the review.)
It is a strength of the movie that it shows all the Nazi and Wehrmacht high command as humans. When you see Himmler, Speer and the others in living colour for the first time, it is creepy, but the impact of the uniforms, insignia and ceremonies fade as the movie progresses, to the point where they are merely background.
Alexandra Maria Lara as Traudl Junge brings an everywoman view to the madness of the bunker. Frau Traudl does not impact greatly as a character, apart from her blind devotion to the Fuhrer, and the bookends where the real Traudl speaks.
There is a great duality about the situation, the restrained madness below ground and the mass slaughter above. The Hitler Youth and Volksturm being mowed down, the SS dispensing summary 'justice', the non existent air force and understrength armies Hitler was sure he would win the war with - the invading Red Army is barely in the movie, as if they were a minor irritant while a whole corrupt system was folding in on itself, gorging on the young.
When Hitler is told that 15,000 officers have been killed aboveground, he merely replies that is what the young are for. However, if there is one master villain of the piece, it is not Hitler but instead Goebbels, who the movie implies was the last true believer - his wife, Magda, would prefer to die than live beyond the Third Reich, and takes her six children with her.
The Reich may have been an evil regime, but for the German people, the period covered by Downfall really was the end of civilisation as they knew it.
The Battle of Berlin and the end of the twelve year madness is a well worn story, but Downfall is the closest to the reality of those days we will probably ever get on screen. There are powerhouse performances by the cast, bringing some of the most evil people in recent history to life, as well as those that were merely following orders. This movie could easily slot into any history curriculum about the Third Reich, and that is probably the strongest compliment that can be said about films based on real life events.
For fans of history or war films, Downfall is a must see movie. Even though the outcome and events are never in doubt, the film plays well as a psychological drama as well. Although personally not as moving as Hotel Rwanda (due merely to the length of time since 1945 as opposed to 1994), Downfall is just as powerful a movie. Not just for arthouse foreign film afficionados.
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