Der Untergang

[TIEdup14]

I actually watched this movie several months ago, but I think this would be a good place for an in-depth discussion of the film.

For those who dont know, Der Untergang is a story told through the eyes of Traudl Junge, a secretary during the last days of WWII (in Germany, at least) living in Adolf Hitler's Fuhrerbunker. The movie depicts Germany during those final days, but more importantly Hitler and those part of the circle of power. The film culminates with the suicides of Hitler and Eva Braun.

http://imdb.com/title/tt0363163/


I have to say that I absolutely loved this movie. Where to begin...

Hitler. Up to this point, I'd never seen Hitler portrayed in a movie in a way other than what I would call "inhuman monster." Basically, the only emotion shown would be anger. But this is decidedly not the case here. Bruno Ganz depicts a more human side of Hitler I think has been previously unseen.

Dont get me wrong, there's still plenty of Hitler to hate-- in one scene he describes how apes always "kill off the odd ones, and what applies to apes definitely applies to humans as well." ::shudder::

But we instead get to see Hitler through a whole gamut of emotions: peacefulness, his hopes/dreams, anger of course, sadness, depression, betrayal, utter dispair... just to name a few.

You can watch this movie and notice a distinct change in Hitler as the end draws near... he hunches more, he grows paler, his eyes lose conviction, etc.

You also get to see the reactions of those closest to him. Some jump ship, and leave the Fuhrer to his own devices in an attempt to save their own neck. Others remain tenatively loyal, though they know there will be no "Final Victory", they never let on to the Fuhrer this fact. Others still are UNWAVERINGLY loyal to the end, with one memorable scene with a nurse pleading with the Fuhrer to "lead us! If you lead I swear we will follow" while bombs explode in the background.

This is just a small sample of what this movie has to offer. For anyone with an interest in WWII history, this is simply a must-see. 5 out of 5 stars.

I'd love to hear some other thoughts on the movie from those who have also seen it!

[diebitter]

I definitely want to see this now, didn't know about it before.


A documentary with the secretary is also something I want to see (in fact I thought this is what you were talking about at first) - http://imdb.com/title/tt0311320/


thanks for the great review.

[SonOfWestwood]

I saw this a while ago, and I definitely echo the OP's sentiments. It was great. As the OP already mentioned, the portrayal of Hiter was done very well. I especially liked the various war room strategy meetings he had, and slowly seeing each person's morale drop from meeting to meeting.

Other things I enjoyed were the extra little details they threw in, like Hitler rewarding some of the new recruits (the kids) medals, and how they still tried to defend the city. Another scene that I remember pretty clearly is when the mother fed her children the poison as they were sleeping.

[SL__72]

[ QUOTE ]
I definitely want to see this now, didn't know about it before.


A documentary with the secretary is also something I want to see (in fact I thought this is what you were talking about at first) - http://imdb.com/title/tt0311320/


thanks for the great review.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm pretty sure the Der Untergang (The Downfall) was based on the interviews in the one you linked.

/edit Oh, and I also thought it was a very well made film.

[KDawg]

This film rules. Once I saw that Bruno Ganz was playing Hitler, I knew that at least that job would be well done. He is an actor that many people need to check out, he almost always hits it big on his acting.

What I liked most about this film was showing Hitler's descent into pure madness. As teh war dragged on, him thinking that everyone was betraying him if they didn't do what he wanted down to a tee. His thinking that because Speer wanted to sign a treaty, so that more germans wouldn't die, meant that Speer was really a spy and now a Traitor, to me really showed how crazy he had gotten. What really got me about this film was that Traudl Junge was just a normal girl from a decent background and she was swept up by Hitler's rhetoric and wanted to be a good german in Hitler's eyes. IMO that really shows how much the germans wanted to believe in him and how he inspired them, and also how easy it can be when a powerful person who knows how to speak the right way at the right time can so greatly influence an entire nation.

[TIEdup14]

Speaking of which, my favorite scene in the movie is when Hitler receives a memo informing him of Himmler's offer of surrender to Count Bernadotte.

"The most loyal of the loyal..."

This betrayal seems to have been the "straw that broke the camel's back," because after this Hitler's mental state shows a marked deterioration