Downfall, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel

This film is about Traudl Junge (portrayed by Alexandra Maria Lara), a young secretary for Adolf Hitler and her experience in the bunker in Berlin during Hitler’s last days. Though the central character is Junge, the show is stolen by Bruno Ganz, who plays Hitler. His portrayal of Hitler is stunning. The physical resemblance is spot on, but that’s not all. Ganz had the stance, the mannerisms and emotion to really embody the Nazi dictator. His performance was haunting, as evidenced in the scene where he instructs his confidants on the appropriate way to commit suicide. He explains how to take your own life without the chance of getting it wrong, and he does it as if he was explaining how to bake a cake.

The film really captured the insanity of Berlin during those days in April 1945. Much of the power behind the film comes from careful cinematography and editing. At one point in the film, with the Russians threatening to take the city, one of Hitler’s advisors returns home, where his wife has dinner ready. He can’t bear to tell his wife that all is lost, so he sits down at the table with his two young children. His hands are below the table, and a camera shot shows him holding two grenades. He pulls the pins on the grenades, and the camera cuts to a shot outside the window, where the explosion is seen. The last thing seen in the scene is his daughter’s stuffed animal lying on the street.

In another scene Eva Braun (Juliane Köhler) is seen inside the bunker writing a letter to a sister. Her voice is heard as she writes the letter with cuts to the voice of Magda Goebbels (Corinna Harfouch) who is writing a letter to her oldest son. Braun writes her letter as if all is fine. She tells her sister that she can have Eva’s furs and jewelry, and spends all of her time talking of superficial things. Goebbels writes of the imminent defeat of the Third Reich and how she can’t bear to live or let her children live in a world run by the capitalists. While the two voices are heard, scenes of violence and destruction can be seen. German soldiers (some of them just children) are seen shooting each other so that they won’t be taken alive.

I knew what would ultimately happen in this film. I knew that Hitler would commit suicide and that Berlin would be taken by the Russians. Yet the suspense of the film was incredible. This film made me uncomfortable. It was hard to watch at times, and even made me choke up. That in my mind is the sign of a well made film. The screen time of the film is two and a half hours. But it doesn’t seem like it. That is another sign of a good film. The story is intense, the filming was flawless, the acting was outstanding, and this film is without a doubt a 10 of 10.

(Next film review: There will be Blood, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson)