Dir. Oliver Hirschbiegel, 2004, Germany/Italy/Austria, 150 mins, subtitles
Cast:
Bruno Ganz, Juliane Köhler, Alexandra Maria Lara
This reconstruction of Hitler's final days is an historical masterpiece, an emotionally charged drama that remains as gripping as the events it depicts from sixty years ago. Performances from a stellar cast, as proud and committed as their characters, makes this one of the most compelling World War II films produced. That it has taken a German filmmaker and cast to achieve this is also to its credit.
Taken from a book written by German historian Joachim Fest, Downfall begins in 1942 as Hitler (Ganz) looks for a new secretary, hiring Munich girl Traudl Junge (Lara). The action then moves to Berlin, April 20th 1945, for the last twelve days of Hitler's life, in the stifling confines of his Berlin bunker. Here Hitler reigns supreme amidst strategy meetings with his generals, their dwindling belief that they will win the war, and the innocent bystanders like Junge who are merely there to cook for the Fuehrer or type his letters. As the Russian Red Army advance, and the streets of Berlin come under increasing attack, Hitler and his command discuss suicide.
Criticism has been directed at Downfall for portraying its subjects as sensitive and sympathetic human beings. As we get close to Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun (Köhler), we begin to understand how in love they were, and how the cult of Hitler's personality permeated the very core of his followers. We can see that these were people who believed so strongly in National Socialism and the German Aryan cause that they would give their lives to it. Also that they possessed huge human virtues of intelligence, loyalty and faith. Downfall is also a modern-day World War II narrative that concentrates on the perspective of the Nazi's. Hurt, duplicity and betrayal are only experienced by them and there are no characters in Downfall that represent the Jewish community. This is a brave move and one that works to compound the intensity of events taking place. The resulting emotional force that exudes from the film is that much greater.
But Downfall is far from sympathetic to Hitler, who is portrayed as a deeply troubled man. It cleverly gets under his skin, and explores why he was able to create such a fiercely loyal following. He is portrayed as a shuffling old man, Parkinson's has got to one of his shaking hands he keeps behind a hunched back, and he frequently lapses into bouts of uncontrollable rage. He invokes Stalin, and tells his stunned high ranking entourage he should have killed them and conquered Europe himself. What do you expect, says one of his aides, from a teetotal, non-smoking vegetarian? (everyone else chain-smokes throughout). Like his followers he has a blind passion for Germany , which must be destroyed if he can't fulfil it. He discusses his scorched earth policy with Goebbels (Ulrich Matthes), writing off the German civilian population as dispensable, that the Nazis should leave nothing but a wasteland for the Allies. He doesn't care if he hurls the German people back to the middle ages, civilian survival is pointless if they lose the war. "I have never let myself feel compassion," he says. In the final and incredibly moving suicide scenes, the feeling is that his followers have been let down by a heartless man who encouraged them to choose death over living without him.
The futility and absurdity of Hitler's policies is projected by some clever gestures. As mass destruction goes on around them, and operations are carried out with no anaesthetic, the dinner table inside the bunker is laid formally for every meal, with cut glass, napkins, the best food and fine wine. Eva Braun insists on throwing a party as bombs rain down around them. Scenes of suicides are overlayed by those of Braun typing a letter to her sister, saying goodbye and telling her she has left a watch at the jewellers that needs picking up. As the bombing ceases for a few minutes and the Red Army continue closing in, Hitler rises from the bunker to greet a line of Hitler Youth, pointlessly pinning medals on their tiny proud chests. There is a reminder here Nero playing the fiddle while Rome burns, and of old British war time films - and even Zulu, where proper protocol and good manners help win a war.
Bruno Ganz leads the exceptional cast in a sterling performance as Hitler, raging at one minute to his generals and then speaking softly to Traudl and calling her my dear. He fondly tells Magda Goebbels she is the best mother in Germany for the sacrifice her family is about to make (in one of the most moving parts of the film). It is to women that the Fuehrer shows his human side. He is man troubled not by the transparency of his convictions but by what he sees as the incompetence of his male entourage. Juliane Köhler plays a feisty, animated Eva Braun ready to do anything for the man she loves. Corinna Harfouch is magnificent as the immaculately groomed Magda Goebbels', delightfully chilling in high-heels, pearls, and crimson lipstick.
Director Oliver Hirschbiegel began by making TV movies, and became well-known outside Germany with his first non-TV feature Das Experiment, a thriller about a research experiment involving voluntary prisoners and guards. He has become somewhat of a specialist in producing films in confined environments and this experience has clearly paid off for Downfall. The winding passages, and steel walls and doors of the bunker are suitably oppressive. Hirschbiegel's exterior shots are magnificent, the street bombings and falling masonry are spectacles worthy of any Hollywood blockbuster. There is little colour in this film, it being mostly a palette of greys, whites and blacks. But it is peppered with visually stunning moments. A scene of paper fluttering on to a bonfire as German soldiers purge Nazi office s is nothing short of poetic.
Before ending with written statistical reminders of the death and destruction ordered by the people we have just spent an intense two-and-a-half hours with, Hirschbiegel inserts a clip from an interview with the real Traudl Junge. Speaking with refreshing frankness, and if there was ever any doubt in our minds about the sentiments of the film, Junge begins by saying she was only following orders, that Hitler was a tender and kind man to her. Now, she says, she realises this is not an excuse, she could have asked questions, she could have tried to find out more. An admission that should strike a chord with us all, and a suitable lesson to take from such a profound film.
Rebecca Kemp
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