Susan Granger’s review of “Downfall” (Newmarket Films)
What would Hitler’s last 12 days in his elaborate subterranean bunker have been like? That’s what piqued the curiosity of writer/producer Bernd Eichinger. In April, 1945, as the Third Reich collapses above him under Allied assault, Adolf Hitler (Bruno Ganz) – his hand twitching from Parkinson’s – drinks Champagne out of crystal flutes and dines on fine china, set on a white tablecloth, celebrating his 56th birthday, snug within his fortified sanctuary. His flirtatious mistress, Eva Braun (Juliane Koehler), is at his side, kicking his pet German Shepherd Blondi and encouraging everyone to dance. Shortly before they die, Adolf and Eva marry. Then there’s propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels (Ulrich Matthes) whose wife Magda (Corinna Harfouch) forces cyanide capsules between the lips of their six cherubic children rather than have them grow up in a Germany without National Socialism. Culling from Traudl Junge’s recollections in “Until the Final Hour” and “Blind Spot: Hitler’s Secretary,” director Oliver Hirschbiegel attempts to depict Germany’s most notorious murderers as nuanced, sympathetic human beings, rather than ruthless, cold-blooded psychopaths. Swiss-born Bruno Ganz’s impersonation of Hitler is eerily convincing and, as Hitler’s secretary, actress Alexandra Maria Lara narrates the death-laden docudrama. In German with English subtitles, “Downfall” was Oscar-nominated as Best Foreign Film, but its disturbing objectivity has, understandably, infuriated many W.W.II survivors and fellow German filmmaker Wim Wenders. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Downfall” is an insightful, chilling, intense 9, appealing to those who might be intrigued by a revisionist version of History Channel fare.
