ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies.

IS THERE ANYTHING left to say on the evil of Hitler and the collapse of the Third Reich? That  might have seemed like a rhetorical question until the arrival of the Oscar-nominated epic Downfall. Based on vivid, first hand accounts of what truly happened in the Spring of 1945, this award-winning German production is a fascinating combination of history lesson and human drama that brings a fresh perspective to familiar events.
  
A measured attempt to capture the sense of a country tipping into chaos, Downfall tells of Hitler’s final days in the bunker through the stories of those closest to him. The characters run the gamut from Hitler’s personal secretary Traudl Junge (Alexandra Maria Lara) to high-ranking Nazi officials like Goebbels (Ulrich Matthes) and Hitler’s beloved Eva Braun (Juliane Kohler).
 
It also gives a sense of the bigger picture through the lives of ordinary Germans caught up in the dying days of the Nazi regime.

A film like Downfall is inevitably judged on the performance of the actor who plays Hitler. Robert Carlyle, Ken Stott, Alec Guinness and Anthony Hopkins are some of the actors to have tackled an impossible role with varying degrees of success. In Downfall, Austrian actor Bruno Ganz steps back from the histrionics and hysterics to give a thoughtful, well-rounded portrayal.
 
He looks the part and effortlessly conveys the man’s personal charm and ruthless nature as his mood swings from defiance to defeat. Historically accurate and emotionally compelling, Downfall is one of the year’s most impressive European features.

DOWNFALL (Der Untergang) (15)
General release, selected cinemas
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Stars: Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Julianne Kohler, Ulrich Mattes,
Corinna Harfouch
Screenwriter: Bernd Eichinger
Certificate: 15
Running time: 155 mins
Country: Germany
Year: 2004
 

© Allan Hunter, 2005