Extras:
Making of (60 mins), Cast and filmmaker interviews, Historical Personalities and their Actor's Biographies,
The Bunker - A Virtual Tour, Shooting In Russia: behind the scenes look with production crew commentary,
About Shooting: behind the scenes look with director's commentary.
Director:
Oliver Hirschbiegel
(Downfall, The Experiment, Invasion, Mein letzter Film)
Producer:
Bernd Eichinger
Screenplay:
Bernd Eichinger (based on the books "Inside Hitler's Bunker" by Joachim Fest
and "Until The Final Hour" by Traudel Junge and Melissa Müller)
Music:
Stephan Zacharias
Cast:
Adolf Hitler: Bruno Ganz
Traudl Junge: Alexandra Maria Lara
Magda Goebbels: Corinna Harfouch
Joseph Goebbels: Ulrich Matthes
Eva Braun: Juliane Juliane Köhler
Albert Speer: Heino Ferch
Prof. Dr. Ernst-Günter Schenck: Christian Berkel
Prof. Dr. Werner Haase: Matthias Habich
SS Group Leader Hermann Fegelein: Thomas Kretschmann
Artillery General Helmuth Weidling: Michael Mendl
SS Brigade Leader Wilhelm Mohnke: André Hennicke
SS Reich Leader Heinrich Himmler: Ulrich Noethen
Gerda Christian: Birgit Minichmayr
Infantry General Hans Krebs: Rolf Kanies
Infantry General Wilhelm Burgdorf: Justus von Dohnanyi
General Field Marshall Wilhelm Keitel: Dieter Mann
Colonel General Alfred Jodl: Christian Redl
Aide to the SS Main Tower Leader, Otto Günsche: Götz Otto
Heinz Linge: Thomas Limpinsel
Martin Bormann: Thomas Thieme
Walter Hewel: Alexander Held
Peter Kranz: Donevan Gunia
Constanze Manziarly: Bettina Redlich
Hanna Reitsch: Anna Thalbach
General Field Marshall Robert Ritter von Greim: Dietrich Hollinderbäumer
Dr. Ludwig Stumpfegger: Thorsten Krohn
Young Naval Soldier: Klaus B Wolf
Inge Dombrowski: Yelena Zelenskaya
Herself: Traudl Junge (uncredited)
Downfall begins in 1942
when Adolf Hitler takes on the youngest of his secretaries, Traudl Junge.
We then fast-forward to 20th April 1945, Hitler's 56th birthday and a time when he (played in a powerhouse performance by
Swiss actor Bruno Ganz, right) still thinks he has a chance of victory, despite all obstacles,
particularly the one that spells out the cold, hard fact that the Russians are closing in on all sides
and bombing the city to near-oblivion, and when those shells rained down in clear DTS 5.1 sound, the
explosions made me think "Fuck me!" as they met the ground. It really was that outstanding and if
you're not watching this with all the speakers necessary then you're really missing out.
Back to the plot and with 'Clausewitz' in effect and Hitler's men burning books aplenty rather than
letting the Russians get their hands on any of the German's knowledge, his 9th Army are fighting the
Russians, yet losing spectacularly. He tries to come up with other ways for his remaining armies to
move about and take on the enemy but he refuses to believe that defeat is inevitable, even though
all his men are outnumbered 10-to-1. He also has bitter disregard for all remaining civilians, claiming
they should be on his side as he intends to destroy all transport links and fuel supplies so the Russians
can't take them for themselves. As we see German soldiers shooting dead civilians in the street, we're
left in no doubt of their loyalty to their Führer and this makes the cold, heartless reality all the
more shocking.
What's also more of a surprise is that Downfall is a German-made film, and yet gives an honest
and harsh account on a man whose maniacal leadership has brainwashed almost all those around him into
thinking his way is the right way - even to the point that when his time has come, to realise that he cannot
win, those following him must take a similar course of action. It even highlights a problem I didn't
know about until now, a muscular/nerve problem controlling his left hand. This causes a number of people
to look directly at it while he's trying to conceal it.
As well as telling his story, the movie also follows what's seen through the eyes of Professor Dr.
Ernst-Günter Schenck (Christian Berkel), as he tries to make the best of what he can with his
medical knowledge, 14-year-old Peter Kranz (Donevan Gunia) who's simply trying to make sense
of it all and his youngest secretary, Traudl Junge (Alexandra Maria Lara, shown right both as
her character and the actress in reality which proves what an absolute stunner she is).
All three won't be
leaving Berlin any time soon, whether it's so they can stay and help patients, or because of the fact
they're too young to go anywhere, or because of their belief to their Führer. In fact, the latter is
shown in the stubborness of Goebells' wife and others in saying they don't want to leave Berlin even though
not all will survive by doing so.
Similarly, earlier on we also see children and young soldiers planning to remain standing in a street,
resolute in the belief that they'll defeat the Russians when they come.
To go into more detail would rob potential viewers of discovering just how excellent this drama is,
and it's even laced with one or two bits of humour. Suffice to say that it charts Hitler's final ten
days in detail, including his marriage to Eva Braun on 29th April, 1945 and their eventual comeuppance
the following day.
Yes, Bruno Ganz is terrific as the oppressive dictator and there are even moments where you start to
feel sorry for the man, but to only focus on him is to do a disservice to the rest of the cast where
every single member plays their part perfectly, making you feel like you're there watching what's going
on and experiencing it with them and each leave a lasting impression as a character who made their mark
and not a single one could be overlooked.
Both the picture and sound are fantastic here. The film is presented in its original cinematic ratio
of 1.85:1 and is anamorphic, with a gritty feel to the outdoor scenes and the dull, grey interior of
the bunker making you long for some fresh air and feeling reminiscent of many games of
Return To Castle Wolfenstein.
And as stated at the start, while there's a DD5.1 option,
there's fantastic use of DTS 5.1 sound for explosions, gunfire and even atmosphere such as an air-raid siren.
It's an absolute must-see, but I'd give it 9/10 as it's not a film I'd watch repeatedly.
As for extras, yes, there are some as listed atop this review but they're all on the second disc which
wasn't supplied by the PR company.
The subtitles are in English for the hard of hearing, there's a well-received 35 chapters and the main menu
contains a small amount of motion and music on a loop.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Downfall begins in 1942
when Adolf Hitler takes on the youngest of his secretaries, Traudl Junge.
As well as telling his story, the movie also follows what's seen through the eyes of Professor Dr.
Ernst-Günter Schenck (Christian Berkel), as he tries to make the best of what he can with his
medical knowledge, 14-year-old Peter Kranz (Donevan Gunia) who's simply trying to make sense
of it all and his youngest secretary, Traudl Junge (Alexandra Maria Lara, shown right both as
her character and the actress in reality which proves what an absolute stunner she is).