If ever there was a film that can make one feel almost sorry for Adolf Hitler—surely the most hated man in the history of the world—Der Untergang is it.

In spite of all we might already know about that phony Führer, in spite of the film’s documentation of his rising contempt for his generals and even for his own German Volk, the weary and aged Hitler that is portrayed on screen by Swiss actor Bruno Ganz is enough to move a grown man to tears. Perhaps it is the subtle irony as Ganz, his hands shaking from Parkinson’s, softly explains to his dinner guests the natural order of the weak being overtaken by the strong. Or how his General Staff quietly talk behind their leader’s back about his mounting insanity once he has coolly described how the Western Allies will be moved to join in with his desperate cause against the approaching Communist menace. (The fear of the vengeful Soviet Union, which has lost some 9 million fighting men and 19 million civilians because of Hitler’s war on the Eastern Front, is palpable in the faces of all the actors as reports of the Russian advance pour in.) Particularly disturbing is the way Hitler and his mistress Ava Braun (Juliane Köhler), having made their choice to stay in Berlin rather than evacuate before the Russians close in, calmly argue the pros and cons of different methods of suicide. And when all is said and done, the head of the Thousand-Year Reich is cremated in a slimy mudhole dug just outside the Hitlerbunker, his somber funeral cut short by artillery fire. Make no mistake: this movie is a sad, depressing window through which we very personally experience the Downfall of Hitler and his National Socialist empire.

Even so, Ganz’s Hitler is a mere sideshow, the icing on the cake, if you will. By the time the last scene fades and the coda lays out the dreadful epilogues to the stories of Albert Speer, Helmuth Weidling, Heinrich Himmler, and Gerda Christian (among others), we almost feel as though we personally knew each of these historic personalities. In this sense Der Untergang is something like a tragic German antithesis of Henry V or Gettysburg; it feels more like a Shakespearean historical epic than a war film. For that reason, viewers expecting a German Saving Private Ryan will undoubtedly be disappointed. The most intense the action gets is Nazi Stormtroopers running across the street shouting “Deckung!” (Cover!) whilst long-range artillery shells rain down from the sky. To be sure, Der Untergang is a character-driven story.

Of course, the tale of Traudl Junge/Humps (Alexandra Maria Lara), Hitler’s secretary, is the film’s real focus. It opens and closes with clips from a 1998 interview with the real Frau Junge wherein she confesses her regret for consciously choosing to serve the Nazi regime. “Only later did I realize that youth is no excuse,” she tells us. Most of the events are shown from her perspective in the concrete tomb of the Hitlerbunker, and it is really her point of view that sets the pace of the drama. Hers is another superbly acted prominent role. Actress Maria Lara conveys the bewildered, uncertain youth of Frau Junge very well.

As with any foreign film, Der Untergang is best watched in the original German (with subtitles of course) because, to put it bluntly, Ganz’s screaming just sounds angrier auf Deutsch, as do the swear words, which are at a minimum compared to Das Boot. It should be noted that other vulgarities include brief scenes of nudity when Hitler’s men find Hermann Fegelein (treacherous S.S.-Gruppenführer and brother-in-law to Eva Braun) making the most of the Third Reich’s final days in a Berlin brothel (I know that's a terrible diction, but Epinion won't let me use the "W" word), as well as the inevitable hospital scenes that depict the unsavory process of amputation. All in all, I would call it a cleaner film than Das Boot, though, if you care about these things as I do. Last but not least, Der Untergang sports a phenomenal soundtrack that is on par with anything out of Hollywood.

All in all, I wonder that Der Untergang did not win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. It more than earns its current place at #78 on IMDB.com’s Top 250 and is an especial treat for German language students such as myself. Despite its near-sympathetic tone, Der Untergang should not be mistaken as a pro-Nazi film in any respect. It is simply a well-produced insight into the minds and lives of the persons behind the greatest conflict known to history.

Recommended: Yes