Downfall [2004]

Product Details

Director : Oliver Hirschbiegel
Actor : Bruno Ganz, Corinna Harfouch, Ulrich Matthes
Format : Anamorphic, PAL
Aspect Ratio : 1.78:1
Binding : DVD
EAN : 5060049147093
Product Group : DVD
Region Code : 2
Release Date : 2005-09-19
Running Time : 149minutes
Studio : Momentum Pictures

ASIN : B0009WB4UY

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

The riveting subject of Downfall is nothing less than the disintegration of Adolph Hitler in mind, body, and soul. A 2005 Academy Award nominee for best foreign language film, this German historical drama stars Bruno Ganz as Hitler, whose psychic meltdown is depicted in sobering detail, suggesting a fallen, pathetic dictator on the verge on insanity, resorting to suicide (along with Eva Braun and Joseph and Magda Goebbels) as his Nazi empire burns amidst chaos in mid-1945. While staging most of the film in the claustrophobic bunker where Hitler spent his final days, director Oliver Hirschbiegel dares to show the gentler human side of der Fuehrer, as opposed to the pure embodiment of evil so familiar from many other Nazi-era dramas. This balanced portrayal does not inspire sympathy, however: We simply see the complexity of Hitler's character in the greater context of his inevitable downfall, and a more realistic (and therefore more horrifying) biographical portrait of madness on both epic and intimate scales. By ending with a chilling clip from the 2002 documentary Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary, this unforgettable film gains another dimension of sobering authenticity. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Customer Reviews

Amazing (2008-07-30)

It has been a long time since I have seen a movie of this standard. I won't write a lengthy review, enough has been said already. This movie sheds light on a period of WWII history, which I did not know enough about, and the movie helped a lot in understanding it. First, the acting is very high class standard, the plot, the action, the character's, all combine together to give a very highly watchable and most importantly intriguing movie. I watched the movie three times already, and every time something more comes out of it. An absolute must buy DVD, this is essential to every DVD collection. Excellent movie, and it raises the bar for whatever comes after.

MASTERPIECE! BEST EVER PORTRAYAL OF HITLER, AND A STUNNING WAR DRAMA! (2008-07-05)

Quite simply THE best movie of 2004! A vivid & convincing depiction of the final weeks of the Third Reich. Although this is a War film, the emphasis is more on the drama than Private Ryan style setpieces, although there are still effective bursts of action to be found.The movie succeeds in a blend of intimacy (as the Fuhrer slowly crumbles) and a sense of the Epic (the fate of the World was at stake).Production values, all the way from sets to costumes to firearms are supreme, the music is haunting and moving and the photography is gritty and atmospheric.Bruno Ganz's portrayal of History's most infamous Dictator is almost a reincarnation. I have NEVER seen a living actor recreate another human being as well as this. You will NEVER see a better performance than this.A complete Tour de Force!Fair credit to the rest of the cast who replicate the major players; Himmler, Speer, Goebbels, Keitel & Eva Braun etc with a chilling conviction and almost doppelganger authenticity.I really enjoyed the Rise Of Evil with Robert Carlyle but this completeley blows that out of the water!This film empathises but never sympathises - and yet does not seek to condemn. It is docu-drama on the biggest scale and of the highest quality.The fact that it is in it's native German is it's greatest strength. To hear the lines spat out in that often guttural & harsh tone only adds to the chill factor, and after 5 minutes you will not even notice the subtitles, nor want the film in any other way.There are some disturbing scenes - the trial Cyanide run on Blondi, Hitler's beloved alsatian, the appalling euthanasia of the Goebbels children by their fanatical parents, some graphic scenes of injury and the constant feel of impending death & defeat.Plenty of decent extras too on the second disc - a great package all round!I would give 6 stars if I could - It makes a mockery of the dross that passes as Hollywood's finest. Absoluteley absorbing, compelling and essential viewing for everyone. These people were not devils or monsters, but real human beings, capable of acts of good as well as great evil, and it's this fact that the movie hammers home hardest. Human beings will always commit terrible acts, and there's no God or Devil needed to pull the strings, and nothing ever changes.

A shattering, compelling and essential movie. (2008-06-24)

I had little preconceptions before watching this movie, save for a highly positive review in a film magazine; Had it been made anywhere but Germany itself I may not have been so intrigued. Oh, but HOW I was rewarded..A staggering portrayal of what can happen when society implodes, it is not a film for the faint of heart though it must be shown this way just to gain any comprehension of the inhumanity of conditions in Berlin and eastern Germany as it's people were squashed between the advancing Allies and the big red machine. The outside conditions serve as a perfect metaphor for the main subject of the film, the bitter and - if it's the right word at all - sad demise of Adolf Hitler, portrayed as you'll have read in other reviews, with unparalleled excellence by Bruno Ganz. Few performances, not only from Ganz, have so transfixed me from start to finish. If only I'd worked harder at school all those years ago I could have found a better way to praise this devastating masterpiece!All I can say is buy it. You will not regret it.

Der Untergang / The Downfall (2008-04-04)

The director, Bernd Eichinger, researched for over 20 years for this movie and it is based on the latest findings regarding incidents and characters involved. Historians both praised and severely questioned the approach since the accomplished authenticity can be misleading. For instance the last interlocution between Albert Speer and Adolf Hitler is based on a belated report by Speer only. But then the interaction between the people in the bunker is what gives them life and allows the audience a perspective that could not be achieved by a documentary. In any case, there is no purely fictitious scene to be found in this film, every single dialogue and action is based on the written record of a witness.The bunker scenes were shot in a studio in Munich, the outside scenes in St. Petersburg. There is a lot of material on the two bonus DVDs about both. The reason why they chose St. Petersburg was because a few streets there actually look like Berlin during the last days of war. Embarrassing as it was for the authorities, they needed the money. This also allowed the film makers to cast Russians as extras who appear very Aryan with their blue eyes and blonde hair (e.g. the fanatic girl who is fighting in the streets), which is quite ironic. Also I was very touched when I learned that this movie was a German-Russian co-production. Ulrich Matthes, who plays Joseph Goebbels, says during his interview (also on the bonus DVDs) that he had had a terrible conflict getting into Goebbels' mind because a method actor has actually to like the persona they are taking on. So he accepted an opposite role in the movie "Der neunte Tag" where he personifies a priest who is tortured by a Nazi in the concentration camp of Dachau.Since I did not watch the English DVD but only the German I cannot comment on the quality of subtitles. But the title "The Downfall" appears to be quite well chosen: I visualize something falling down from very high above and shattering on the ground [of reality]. "Der Untergang" (going under) has a similar meaning but would be used for a translation of "The sinking of the Titanic" or "The destruction of Pompeii" - something is dead & buried.Other films on the Third Reich that I found extremely impressive are:Schindler's List by Spielberg; The Pianist by Polanski; and Conspiracy - a BBC/HBO production.

Powerful depiction of the end days in the bunker (2008-03-22)

A very powerful movie showing the end days of Nazi Germany. It is well acted and shows the different types of people around Hitler apart from Hitler himself. One gets a real sense of what it must have been like in the bunker in the dying days of the war, as it became clearer and clearer for the characters portrayed that the Nazis had lost the war. Some of characters were clearly pathological deviants without question. Others were true believers and followers, who allowed evil to happen as they so much wanted to believe the illusion they were fed, while ignoring the reality and the brutality that was all too obvious for those with eyes to see. Lessons to be learnt in today's world, where a new rise of fascism is evident. Time to watch out and pay attention to what is really happened and done and not just to what the leaders say.

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