Of his 121 roles over his career, his portrayal of Hitler in the final days is, to me, of what Downfall feels like it has the depth and scope of a miniseries, but yet takes only the runtime of a standard longish picture.
Pabst’s Der letzte Akt (1956), with legit actor Albin Skoda in the role of Hitler. A legend in cinema that will be forever missed. Many of the officers who survived went into captivity (by the Russians) and later committed suicide.
But the film also shows a ray of life for some of the characters, such as Traudl, who chose to escape from the city and made it into the Russian-controlled area and beyond.As expected, Bruno Ganz dominates every scene he is in, whether railing against the poisonous cowardice of Jews, the feebleness of the German people who, in his mind, “deserve their fate,” and the near-daily betrayals, by high-ranking and low-ranking officers, which he simply can’t understand or tolerate.
Unfortunately that's actually a fairly small amount of the 2 1/2 hour runtime. What’s more important is that the portrait is truly complex and multi-nuanced, showing Hitler the leader, Hitler the husband (a nice scene depicts his wedding to Eva Braun in the bunker), Hitler the boss, and Hitler the father figure to the many children in the Bunker, who are often forced to play silly games or sing patriotic songs at the worst moments.The best thing that could be said about Downfall is that it is not a one-man film and, performance-wise, not a one-man show.
The scenes depicting Mrs. Goebbles’ poisoning her own children, one by one, with some resistance by one of her daughters, are heart-breaking and too painful to watch. Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film in 2005, The last days before Germany's capitulation are equally intense in the huge bunker complex where Hitler and his innermost circle hide out. As Últimas Horas de Hitler, A Queda. Scenes between Hitler and famous architect Albert Speer (Heino Ferch) are just as intriguing as those between Hitler and his officers, or Hitler and Eva Braun, who somehow comes across as frivolous party girl who did love Hitler.
Director Oliver Hirschbiegel depicts in painstaking detail the day- to-day operation of an entire system and way of thinking–what the philosopher Hannah Arendt has described as “the banality of evil.” What’s admirable about Downfall is that it pays attention to the doing and thinking of dozen of characters, which make the film’s scope epic in the true sense of this term. Traudl Junge is asleep in her room, deep beneath the ground. Downfall (2004) Original title: Der Untergang, Language: German. La caída, Крахът на Третия Райх, A Queda! He was brilliant and unique. Trail Junge herself died in February 2002, shortly after the showing of “Blind Spot” at the Berlin International Film Festival.In recent years, there have been bad or mediocre films about Hitler, such as the American indie Max (about the young Hitler as a failed artist), the Russian movie Moloch, The Bunker, with Anthony Hopkins, the Robert Carlyle mini-series. Oliver Hirschbiegel's Der Untergang offers something rarely seen in a movie about WWII, a glimpse of the human side of Adolf Hitler. But there are some lovely quiet, touching moments that show Hitler as the bourgeois gentleman, kissing his female employees’ hands, paying a compliment in the midst of a bombing to the cook for a well-cooked dinner, presenting flowers to his mistress Eva Braun, and so on.It’s ridiculous to engage in a discussion to what extent Ganz brings the humanity out of Hitler, because that’s not the point of the film.
I just wish it was trimmed a bit more.Bruno Ganz is astonishing in his role of hitler. You will be simply astonished.So this movie didn't win or got nominated for a Oscar for Bruno Ganz spectacular performance or best foreign language film. Exhibiting relentless realism & exceptional accuracy on-screen, I can't stress this enough... it is an exceptionally well crafted film about Hitler's last days! As soon as one set of characters terminate their lives, or disappear, the narrative picks up the surviving characters and tells the story from their point of view.A good deal of research went into this well-mounted production, particularly Bernd Lepel’s recreation of the Hitler’s Bunker in a Munich studio. Neither Eichinger’s well-crafted script and realistic dialogue, nor Hirschbiegel’s matter-of-fact direction, call attention to themselves–both serve the story admirably and functionally.Hence, despite the fact that Hitler’s suicide takes place a whole reel before the film ends, Downfall continues to be suspenseful, emotionally-riveting, and attention-grabbing all the way to its end credits. Director Oliver Hirschbiegel,[Really who would want to meet Hitler] i will leave this Quote,"if the war is lost.then it is of no concern to me if the people perish in it.i still would not shed a single tear for them.because they did not deserve any better.Adolf Hitler.words you don't want your fellow man to utter.
