Downfall

Pros: Bruno Ganz, story
Cons: Long-winded, split focus, seems endless

Downfall (Der Untergang) (2004) This is a German-made film in the German language that looks at the final days of the Third Reich as Hitler and his hangers-on stayed in the Fuerhrerbunker far below street level in wartime ...

Pros: compelling performances, fascinating story
Cons: unfocused story because it tries to tell 2 for the price of one, slow pace

Downfall is an odd duck of a film. Like the famed platypus, it's an assortment of ideas coexisting within a single, living, organism. Part of it wants to ask what life was like in the final hours of the Nazi regime, when Hitler and company were waiting ...

Pros: Historically accurate
Cons: Some may not like seeing Hitler's human side

Downfall is an excellent World War II film that depicts the last ten days of the Nazi regime. The story begins on Hitler’s birthday and takes you through the Russian invasion of Berlin, Hitler’s suicide, and some of the events that take place ...

Pros: Exceptional performance by Ganz, gripping film overall.
Cons: Disturbing at times.

Every now and then, a film comes along that is so gripping and thought provoking that it pulls you right in and makes you forget reality, for just a time, seemingly transporting you to its own time and place. Such a film is the 2004 German effort ...

Pros: Acting, direction, historical accuracy and cinematography.
Cons: Length.

All too often, films about Adolf Hitler portray him as a raving lunatic, ranting and raving most of the time, and smashing his fists on tables the rest of the time. Instead of making him a believable character, many of these films transform him merely ...

Pros: Great realistic portrayal of life in Hitler's bunker in the final days
Cons: Perhaps contrived considering the source of the information, based on Hitler's secretary's memoirs

A film with Hitler as the main character is bound to cause controversy, but Swiss actor Bruno Ganz, well known in the German-speaking film world, does an admirable job of showing one of the world's worst megalomaniacs. In the final weeks before Hitler's ...

Pros: draws you right in, historically accurate, in-depth characters, mood, etc.
Cons: depressing as hell

The Downfall (Der Untergang) is a well pieced together and entertaining film depicting the last few days of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany as it fell to the Allies, most notable the Red Army. The most notable aspect of this film is the mood, which fits ...

Pros: Terrific accuracy, for the most part
Cons: A bit slow in the middle; ending something of a copout

I was inspired by my recent feud with vicfar to throw myself again into the study of the ending and immediate aftermath of World War II, which led me inevitably to rent ...

Pros: Excellent production values, convincing acting and realistic scenery.
Cons: Hardly any surprises. And those accursed subtitles!

DOWNFALL is the English language title for the 2004 German film Der Untergang. It is one, and perhaps the best, of several films that depict the last dozen days of Hitler's life. In this instance, the cast is entirely German, all strangers to ...

Pros: Superb acting, cinematography, directing. Excellent re-creation of the era.
Cons: Very long. Lots of violence. Graphic war scenes, destruction, which might upset some viewers.

Downfall was one of the nominees for a Foreign Language Oscar 2005. Its recent release in Australian cinemas coincided with the anniversary of the German surrender and the end of the Second World War. Story Berlin, 1942-45. The movie ...

Pros: somewhat of a learning experience
Cons: Nazis still suck!

Ruined by the Nazis, the swastika had elicited much reverence and respect in many far ranging cultures throughout history before being hijacked by Hitler. In today’s world, one can invoke strong feelings of hate and fear by simply displaying this ...

Pros: Excellent recreation, great story and nicely filmed.
Cons: English subtitles.

I recently saw the German film Downfall in a multi-plex theatre in London, England (April 15-20,2005). While on vacation in London I wanted to both see this film and what a foreign movie theatre is like. I went to a 9pm showing of Downfall at the ...

Pros: Interesting inside view.
Cons: Lengthy movie, moves slow at times. subtitles

I found Downfall to be very intriguing, yet disturbingly detailed. Although, the movie is likely intended to be so detailed. I'm not sure how historically accurate the movie is, I just saw it and haven't had time to research what people have said about ...

Pros: Gripping subject and presentation
Cons: Omission of critical facts made characters' fanaticism and irrationality look too extreme.

"Downfall" is pretty much a historical re-enactment of the last days of Nazi Germany, as seen from Hitler's bunker in Berlin and environs. Some, such as Himmler, awake from the nightmare and try to salvage the situation as best they can. Others go down with the ship in megalomaniacal "glory".

The movie clearly judges the suicides as delusional fanatics, but it omits the well-documented fact of massive atrocities by Russian soldiers, which had been well-publicized by German propaganda. Women of all ages faced a high probability of gang rape, and German soldiers could expect death by starvation or exposure if they surrendered to Russians. And any civilian suspected of Nazi connections would reasonably expect execution or a concentration camp if they fell in Stalin's clutches. Faced with such prospects, death in hopeless battle or a quick bullet aren't totally irrational choices. Mrs. Goebbels killing her children makes for a grisly scene, but would Americans automatically condemn high-ranking government families who killed their children if Communists had sacked Washington in 1955? Maybe German audiences know the consequences people faced then, but few Americans do, and that knowledge should seriously affect how we judge the people in this movie.

Pros: Something you haven't seen before.
Cons: not a light movie to watch that stays with you for a long time.

The fall of the Nazi's has been spoken of in schools all over the world. For the most the lesson goes like: '1945 Germany lost'. Over the decades we saw the allied heroics, but never did we see anything from the 'other' side. This view of what happened is unsettling in ways you cannot imagine. the blind faith of the people believing he would win it all and turn it around. Bruno Ganz makes Hitler look like someones excentric grandfather. Cut of from reality you see the things that they faced, following blindly. This movie is fantastic for a very simple reason. Thoughts will haunt you for a long time after seeing this movie. And imagine, these views come from a woman who was there, in that bunker.