DOWNFALL

Germany, 2004, 156 minutes, Colour.
Bruno Ganzs, Alexandra Maria Lara, Corinna Harfouch, Ulrich Mattes, Julianne Kohler, Thomas Kretschmann.
Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel.

What an ignominious end to one of history’s most arrogantly ambitious grabs for power.

Downfall is the picture of the last days of Hitler and of the Third Reich. It is based on two books, one of research, Inside Hitler’s Bunker by Joachim Fest, the other the memoirs of Hitler’s private secretary, Until the Final Hour by Traudl Junge and Melissa Mueller. (Just after her death in February, 2002, a documentary of interviews with Traudl Junge was released, Blind Spot, Hitler’s Secretary, a film well worth seeing to try to grasp how people could become so obsessed with Hitler and his vision).

With April 2005 being the 60th anniversary of Hitler’s death and May the anniversary of the end of the war in Europe, the German film industry has been revisiting its past. Downfall received some initial harsh criticism because it painted too ‘human’ a portrait of Hitler. A sensitivity towards Hitler being shown as a human being is understandable in those who suffered or whose families suffered because of the Nazis. But, day by day, Hitler related to people and drew their affection. To have a more ‘real’ portrait of him does not diminish the horror of what he said and did. It is to the credit of Bruno Ganz that his portrayal embodies all these aspects of Hitler.

Germans went to see the film in their thousands. It was then nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Audiences outside Germany will find it a fascinating re-creation of momentous times.

The film runs for two and a half hours. Apart from a prologue where Hitler interviews six applicants for the post of his secretary and hires Traudl Junge, the film stays within the last ten days of the dying Reich. The audience is invited to perceive the personalities and the increasingly desperate situations from the sympathetic perspective of Junge while being able to see Hitler and the Nazi leadership for what it truly is: megalomaniac, racist madness.

Since Saving Private Ryan and Enemy at the Gates, films have been able to portray battles with realistic intensity. While most of Downfall takes place below ground, there are some devastating episodes of the attack on Berlin by the Russian advance, the meagre defence of the city by dwindling troops including youngsters.

While Hitler is central to the film, we see many of the other leaders, particularly the sinister Goebbels and his fanatical wife, Magda, who poisoned their children because she did not want them to live in a world without National Socialism. We see Himmler, Speer, hear about Goering and how Hitler volubly denounces them all as betraying him. His main support is Eva Braun who is shown as both shallow and blindly devoted.

The impact of Hitler from Downfall is that he is both man and monster. He seems to be ‘softened’ when we see him devoted to his dog, listening to the Goebbels children sing and be concerned about the welfare of his secretaries. But, then he rants and raves against his generals, knows that Berlin is lost but still shouts plans for armies to come to the city’s rescue. When challenged about the fate of the German people, he denounces them for not being strong enough to be faithful to his vision, that they deserve to be destroyed by the invading allies.

When we study history, we think in terms of personalities and events and how we are to interpret them. With a film like Downfall, we have the opportunity to put faces on characters, watch behaviour and listen to statements that we abhor and experience emotionally what otherwise might remain abstract insights. Recommended as an opportunity to revisit appalling history

1. A film 60 years after the events? After World War II? Hitler’s death?

2. The impact, reactions at the release of the film, in Germany, its presentation of Hitler? European responses? World responses?

3. The title, the perspective on Hitler?

4. Audience knowledge of Hitler, attitudes towards him? Towards the Third Reich?

5. The re-creation of the period, the 1940s, Germany, Berlin, the war situation, war action, the bunker and life within the bunker? The musical score?

6. April 1945, the approach of the allies, the defence of Berlin, the presence of the Russians? The generals, coming to Hitler, his giving them new orders, impossible to fulfil? Hitler and Eva Braun? The Goebbels family? Hitler and his attitude towards the end, feeling betrayed, denouncing the German people for infidelity, his mad strategies, growing desperation, firing generals and threatening them? Hitler knowing that he was to die, that he was defeated?

7. In the bunker, the range of staff, Traudl, her perspective? Their hopes? The personalities, the relationship with Hitler? The relatives? The medical student and his news about situations on the surface?

8. Hitler as a person, Bruno Ganz and his impersonation? The mania and madness? The charm? The relationship with Eva Braun, marrying her? His birthday? The children at the celebration, the song? Yet Hitler’s puritanical attitude towards smoking and drinking? Eva with the others, self-indulgence, having a good-time?

9. Traudl, the flashback to the interview, waiting with the women, earnest, the interview with Hitler, the nervousness with the typing, her being chosen, exhilaration, the three years of service, her experience at the end, the other secretaries, what they shared with Hitler, sharing the end? Traudl and her coming to her senses, in retrospect, amazed at her belief in Hitler?

10. Hitler, Eva, together, the marriage, the end, their deaths?

11. Goebbels, his role in the Reich, his advice? Magda Goebbels and her strength of character? The decision about the children, getting them into their pyjamas, into the room, administering the poison, their deaths? The parents’ suicide?

12. The medic, the situation, going to the bunker, the desperation, help?

13. The range of generals, the truth about their strategies, their concern, exasperation, Hitler and his impossible demands?

14. In the bunker, the eat, drink and be merry attitude, some surviving, the other suicides?

15. On the surface, the camera coming out from the bunker, surveying the surroundings, the devastation? The dead in the streets?

16. The Russians, their advance? The new recruits, the children, their loyalty, denouncing their parents, receiving medals?

17. The film offering an opportunity to look again at this episode, one of the key moments of the 20th century? Images enabling audiences to rethink?