A lot have been said and have been written about how innocent and naive the Germans were and how the the Nazis took this to their best advantage. A lot have been said about the 'good germans' and how evil the Nazis were. To be honest, if I were living in those troubled times, there is every possibility that I would have been a willing collaborator of the Nazis. when I say this, I don't mean that I support anti-antisemitism, the violent pan Germanism and the ludicrous racial theories.
The Weimar republic Post Gustav Stresemann was morally corrupt and was defeatist in attitude. In those troubled times, the Nazis were the only ones who inspired hope and had a plan for the revival of Germany. The guilt of the Germans were not in their collaboration with the Nazis but as Albert Seer rightly points out in his memoirs written while spending his 20 year term in Spandau (I will write detailed reviews of his works "Inside the Third Reich" and "Spandau - The secret diaries" on a later date) was in not putting to see the truth, not taking the effort to know about the violent and cruel nature of the Nazi Germany. This "Faustian deal" is the eternal shame of Germany. Oliver Hirschbiegel re-iterates this point thought the recorded words of real life Traudl Junge, which is the the crescendo of his film.
"Of course, the terrible things I heard from the Nuremberg Trials, about the six million Jews and the people from other races who were killed, were facts that shocked me deeply. But I wasn't able to see the connection with my own past. I was satisfied that I wasn't personally to blame and that I hadn't known about those things. I wasn't aware of the extent. But one day I went past the memorial plaque which had been put up for Sophie Scholl in Franz Josef Strasse, and I saw that she was born the same year as me,and she was executed the same year I started working for Hitler. And at that moment I actually sensed that it was no excuse to be young, and that it would have been possible to find things out."
- Traudl Junge
History is the best teacher but sadly human beings are the worst students! The experience of Germans is an eye opener for us Indians who off late have been experimenting with extreme rightist views.
Downfall depicts the final 6 days in the life of Adolf Hitler in Führerbunker (The bunker was the 13th and last of Hitler's Führerhauptquartiere or Führer Headquarters) and the death throes of Nazi Germany. Written by Bernd Eichinger and directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, it was based on the book "Inside Hitler's Bunker" by Joachim Fest, Albert Speer's memoirs, and the memoirs of Traudl Junge, secretary of Adolf Hitler.
The film begins with an interview with the real-life Traudl Junge, who regrets not recognizing the Nazi horrors and her remorse at her younger self for not realizing what kind of a monster she was dealing with. The Swiss-German actor Bruno Ganz gives a great performance as Adolf Hitler in this film, which details the last ten days of the Third Reich. Hitler and his cronies are holed in the Führerbunker underneath the Reich Chancellery in Berlin as they are surrounded by the Red army. Despite the pleading from all, Hitler refuses to budge and refuses to evacuate. His iron will, which saw Nazi Germany through a lot of Military campaigns is not enough against the waves of Red army invading Germany. Hitler is shown as a human being whose beliefs are failing right infort of his eyes.
Treatment of the Third Reich is still a sensitive subject among Germans even 60 years after World War II's end and the film broke one of the last remaining taboos by its depiction of Adolf Hitler in a central role by a German speaking actor. Hilter's failing health and his sorry end is an irony and is true analogy, describing the fate of "12 year of Third Reich" which was supposed to last a thousand years. Director Oliver Hirschbiegel said that his purpose was to give Hitler a three-dimensional personality. "We know from all accounts that he was a very charming man —a man who managed to seduce a whole people into barbarism."
The film was widely criticised for humanizing Hitler. Germany's tabloid newspaper Bild asked during the time of its release - "Are we allowed to show the monster as a human being?" It was also criticized for presenting characters like a SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke and SS doctor Ernst-Günther Schenck into honorable human beings. Despite all misgivings, all critics and historians accept the fact that it was the most authentic portrayal of the last days of Hitler and Third Reich!
Downfall was nominated for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in the 77th Academy Awards but lost to "Sea Inside" (I shall write a detailed review on the same on a later date) . The film also won the BBC's 2005 BBC 4 World Cinema award and currently holds a strong position in the Internet Movie Database's Top 250 Movies list.
Verdict: 8.5/10. A must watch and watch it three to four times, if you are interested in periodic films/making periodic films.
The Weimar republic Post Gustav Stresemann was morally corrupt and was defeatist in attitude. In those troubled times, the Nazis were the only ones who inspired hope and had a plan for the revival of Germany. The guilt of the Germans were not in their collaboration with the Nazis but as Albert Seer rightly points out in his memoirs written while spending his 20 year term in Spandau (I will write detailed reviews of his works "Inside the Third Reich" and "Spandau - The secret diaries" on a later date) was in not putting to see the truth, not taking the effort to know about the violent and cruel nature of the Nazi Germany. This "Faustian deal" is the eternal shame of Germany. Oliver Hirschbiegel re-iterates this point thought the recorded words of real life Traudl Junge, which is the the crescendo of his film.
"Of course, the terrible things I heard from the Nuremberg Trials, about the six million Jews and the people from other races who were killed, were facts that shocked me deeply. But I wasn't able to see the connection with my own past. I was satisfied that I wasn't personally to blame and that I hadn't known about those things. I wasn't aware of the extent. But one day I went past the memorial plaque which had been put up for Sophie Scholl in Franz Josef Strasse, and I saw that she was born the same year as me,and she was executed the same year I started working for Hitler. And at that moment I actually sensed that it was no excuse to be young, and that it would have been possible to find things out."
- Traudl Junge
History is the best teacher but sadly human beings are the worst students! The experience of Germans is an eye opener for us Indians who off late have been experimenting with extreme rightist views.
Downfall depicts the final 6 days in the life of Adolf Hitler in Führerbunker (The bunker was the 13th and last of Hitler's Führerhauptquartiere or Führer Headquarters) and the death throes of Nazi Germany. Written by Bernd Eichinger and directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, it was based on the book "Inside Hitler's Bunker" by Joachim Fest, Albert Speer's memoirs, and the memoirs of Traudl Junge, secretary of Adolf Hitler.
The film begins with an interview with the real-life Traudl Junge, who regrets not recognizing the Nazi horrors and her remorse at her younger self for not realizing what kind of a monster she was dealing with. The Swiss-German actor Bruno Ganz gives a great performance as Adolf Hitler in this film, which details the last ten days of the Third Reich. Hitler and his cronies are holed in the Führerbunker underneath the Reich Chancellery in Berlin as they are surrounded by the Red army. Despite the pleading from all, Hitler refuses to budge and refuses to evacuate. His iron will, which saw Nazi Germany through a lot of Military campaigns is not enough against the waves of Red army invading Germany. Hitler is shown as a human being whose beliefs are failing right infort of his eyes.
Treatment of the Third Reich is still a sensitive subject among Germans even 60 years after World War II's end and the film broke one of the last remaining taboos by its depiction of Adolf Hitler in a central role by a German speaking actor. Hilter's failing health and his sorry end is an irony and is true analogy, describing the fate of "12 year of Third Reich" which was supposed to last a thousand years. Director Oliver Hirschbiegel said that his purpose was to give Hitler a three-dimensional personality. "We know from all accounts that he was a very charming man —a man who managed to seduce a whole people into barbarism."
The film was widely criticised for humanizing Hitler. Germany's tabloid newspaper Bild asked during the time of its release - "Are we allowed to show the monster as a human being?" It was also criticized for presenting characters like a SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke and SS doctor Ernst-Günther Schenck into honorable human beings. Despite all misgivings, all critics and historians accept the fact that it was the most authentic portrayal of the last days of Hitler and Third Reich!
Downfall was nominated for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in the 77th Academy Awards but lost to "Sea Inside" (I shall write a detailed review on the same on a later date) . The film also won the BBC's 2005 BBC 4 World Cinema award and currently holds a strong position in the Internet Movie Database's Top 250 Movies list.
Verdict: 8.5/10. A must watch and watch it three to four times, if you are interested in periodic films/making periodic films.
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