The 2004 German film DOWNFALL (Der Untergang) was nominated for a Best Foreign Film Academy Award. Set for the most part inside Hitler's bunker in Berlin, the film has a dark, claustrophobic atmosphere permeated by the overpowering aura of death and failure that was present there as the Second World War came to its brutal end. It offers a realistic and shocking view of what transpired in the Führerbunker in 1945.
Hitler and His Secretary
Director Oliver Hirschbiegel opens and closes this feature film with brief documentary scenes of the real-life, older Traudl Junge, Hitler's secretary, as she talks about her minor but intimate role in the workings of the Nazi regime. This is very appropriate, as the film largely revolves around her and is often seen through her eyes. Hitler may be the main figure in this motion picture, but Traudl Junge (portrayed convincingly by Alexandra Maria Lara) is much more than a supporting role. As the Führer's secretary, she was witness to many personal and political events that even few of Hitler's generals and staff knew about. (See my review of BLIND SPOT: HITLER'S SECRETARY for more about Traudl Junge.) DOWNFALL, with a script by Hirschbiegel and producer Bernd Eichinger, is mainly based on two books about the final days of Adolf Hitler and his Third Reich, including Junge's memoirs, Until the Final Hour.Most people are at least vaguely familiar with the history of the final act of the Nazi regime and its infamous leader. But DOWNFALL chillingly reveals the true horror of those final days in Berlin and Hitler's bunker. Actor Bruno Ganz and the filmmakers have been criticized for making Hitler seem "human," but it is that very aspect of the Führer that makes his evil all the more monstrous. The bunker—recreated in accurate, minute detail by director Olver Hirschbiegel and his team—becomes a scene of stark inhumanity and insanity. How can Magda Goebbels poison her children so cooly and efficiently? How can some of Hitler's staff so willingly follow him into death? How can Hitler wish death, suffering, and destruction on his own nation? How can Eva Braun remain so loyal to the man who has her sister's husband shot for treason? Adolf may be pictured loving dogs and children in this film, but he hardly comes off as a nice guy.
Under Hirschbiegel's direction, Rainer Klausman's camerawork is dark and gloomy (sometimes too dark and gloomy), befitting the drab bunker setting of much of the film. You can almost feel what it must have been like to be in that isolated, claustrophobic environment. The war scenes are vividly realistic, and the film in general seems to authentically recreate wartime Berlin. Many of the characters are well portrayed, even if we often have trouble figuring out who is who. Bruno Ganz (WINGS OF DESIRE, THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE) as Hitler is outstanding. But after all is said and done, something still seems to be missing. We don't really find out what makes these people tick. They all go through the motions of what they actually may have done in the war and in the Führerbunker, but we are left asking why. Maybe that is impossible to know, but this film, however good at capturing mood and factual history, does not venture far into "why" territory.
The DVD
The DVD release for Region 1 (North America) is in the original German with easy-to-read English subtitles. There is also an optional director's commentary in English, plus a making-of segment, in which we learn how St. Petersburg, Russia stood in for Berlin; the interiors were filmed in Munich's Bavaria Film studios. It was only via the director's commentary that I learned who some of the characters were. The third DVD extra, the cast and crew interviews, is marred by a lack of any identification of who is speaking, and one bizarre segment in which the person is speaking in English, but we have to listen to a German overdub and read English subtitles!The image transfer is fairly good except for some overly dark scenes. I'm not sure if that is the cinematographer's fault or just a poor transfer, but I'm tired of movies shot so dimly, one has to strain to see anything.
Bottom Line: I gave this film three out of five stars because it's a good film, well worth seeing, but it leaves the viewer with a vacant feeling, somehow still deprived of a better understanding of this vital part of German history.
