Movie Marathon 4 - Obsequiousmelon witnessed Hitlers downfall.

Name of the Film:  Downfall

Starring:  Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara

Traudl Junge was the final secretary for Adolf Hitler.  Downfall tells the story of his last days in his Berlin bunker from her perspective.

The Nazi’s in the Eighties became some what of a comedy villain.  Indiana Jones movies saw to that but they cropped up in any number of horror movies as well.  Sometimes, in film terms, it is easy to forget what an insidious political movement Naziism was.

Downfall is a sombre and at times upsetting film.  There are no punches pulled in showing the horror of what happened.  In that regard we are shown Magda Goebbels killing her children with sleeping ‘medicine’ and then cyanide.  We are shown the Hitler youth (kids of about 13 but as young as eight in a couple of instances) trying to hold a military position against the Russian soldiers and when they are over run shooting each other and then themselves.  We are shown Hitler’s absurd racism when he presumes it is a Jewish plot that Himmler has deserted.

The filmmakers don’t let us look away and as a viewer you are compelled to view the actions and the near constant suicides with horror and, if I’m honest, pity.

Yes, I said pity, because Downfalls great strength is that it doesn’t demonize the men in that bunker.  The performances are great, as is the script.  These people are not monsters, they are real people and it is to the credit of everyone involved.  It would be easy to make Hitler this vile character that the audience hate.  Instead they took the more mature route and made him just another man.  A man in an incredible position that did terrible things but still just a man with hopes and dreams and loves.  Even though, It is still slightly odd to see Hitler’s relationship with Eva Braun being rather touching.  It is slightly surreal that a man responsible for so many deaths could love anyone!

Downfall is not an uplifting film.  It seeks to tell the last hours of Hitlers life in as fair a way as possible and it achieves that with great aplomb.  The feeling you are left with at the end is of the awe inspiring tragedy that everything to do with Hitlers Third Reich was.

So much death and so much loss and for what?

Did I enjoy the film?  Yes

Would I recommend it to my friends?  Yes 

Will I buy it on DVD/Blu Ray?  Yes

If it was a mate would I let it date my Sister?  Yes