Downfall - Eddy T.

'Downfall' is a German film about the last days of the life of Adolf Hitler, seen through, for the most part, the eyes of his increasingly bewildered secretary Traudl Junge. It is a sober examination of people twisted beyond recognition by perverse ideals and wartime desperation. Hitler is portrayed as a dead man walking, utterly delusional and swinging between raging despair and wild hope. It is a portrait consistent with historical accounts, of a ruthless tyrant who in those days had lost all his messianic charisma (leading many of his army staff to openly question his leadership abilities), a barely sane and rational man who yet could muster affection for those he perceived as still loyal.
There has been a tendency to depict Hitler as Evil incarnate, and this film has earned some controversy by allowing for some humanity in him. Evil, of course, is a human trait and one cannot understand an evil man if one is not prepared to see him as a man. For all the admirable directness and clear-sightedness of 'Downfall', its subject remains something of an enigma. This is in part due to the film's narrow focus on Hitler's last days.
There is also no mention of the heavy medication Hitler was under, and the palpable German fear of a vengeful Red Army pillaging, raping and murdering many before it, mention which would have explained more fully the bizarre behaviour of the occupants of Hitler's bunker. On the other hand, street battle scenes are staged with realism and the suffering of civilians is not glossed over.
It is difficult to sit through 150 minutes of the inexorable fall of an utterly corrupt man and his regime. And for those who wish to understand how a state such as Nazi Germany could have come about, they would be better served by the many books on that subject. This is however an important historical drama that stays true to well-documented events and it deserves the widest audience.
Rating: 8/10