Ralph's Movie Reviews: DOWNFALL

Monday, March 14, 2005

DOWNFALL

Original title: Der Untergang
True historical war story
In German with English subtitles

BACKGROUND
The Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944 marked the beginning of the end of the German Third Reich. In December 1944 a massive offensive aimed at pushing the Allies back from German home territory was planned for the Ardennes region of southern Belgium. The führer, Adolf Hitler, moved his headquarters from East Prussia to the west to personally direct this attack. When it failed, the Germans made an orderly withdrawal between January 8 and 16, having used more of their resources than they could afford on this last desperate attempt to regain the initiative in the West.

Hitler returned to Berlin despite the fact the invading Soviet forces were closing in on the city. He moved into the fortified bunker beneath the Chancellery, the seat of the Reich government. In a state of extreme nervous exhaustion and trapped underground, he continued to direct the German war effort without accepting the inevitability of defeat.

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Bruno Ganz: Adolf Hitler
Alexandra Maria Lara: Traudl Junge, his principal secretary
Juliane Kohler: Eva Braun, his long time mistress
Ulrich Matthes: Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda
Corinna Harfouch: Frau Magda, Goebbels’ wife and mother of their six children
Heino Ferch: Albert Speer, Hitler's chief architect
Thomas Kertschmann: SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Fegelein, Eva’s brother-in-law
Ulrich Noethen: Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler, leader of the SS

REVIEW
This is by far the most accurate film I’ve ever seen of the last days of Hitler, his minions of the Third Reich. Everything looks so authentic and real. Most of the actors have a very uncanny likeness to the person they are portraying, even without the benefit of makeup. Some give truly incredible performances.
The film offers no commentary or judgement. It simply shows the facts.

CLASSIFICATION

for scenes of violence, some disturbing images and brief nudity.

P.S.
The movie is over two hours long, but doesn’t seem like it.

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my ratings system

I've always thought that telling too much about a movie or warning someone about a "twist" at the end deprives the person the pleasure of seeing it as it unfolds, so I don’t do it. You may not always agree with my rating of course, but at least it is an unbiased opinion unlike some of the full time professional reviewers who are on the studio’s payroll.

A few movies you won’t see any review from me:

Scary movies: I’m the world’s biggest chicken and just hate getting the crap scared out of me. I can handle an unexpected door slam, that kind of thing, but a movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat…not for me. Sorry.
Movies geared to the young teen and pre-teen crowd with dialog comprising mostly of crude remarks, awful jokes and lots of rude, socially unacceptable body noises. "The Spy that Shagged Me" comes to mind. (I wonder if the kids know what the British verb to shag someone really means? They probably do; I bet you it’s the parents who haven’t a clue).
Sometimes Hollywood gets on a roll and they produce a series of movies that are all very much alike. For example movies about the CIA were very popular and so we had The Bourne Identity and Bad Company and The Sum of All Fears. They all had the same basic theme and it becomes repetitive. I will see some, but not all of them.

FYI this is my rating system:

0 stars = Terrible: so bad it’s not worth talking about; in fact, I’d pay you not to go
= Lousy: I actually got up and walked out before the end it was just that bad (no kidding)
= Not so good: thought about walking out but hung in just in case it got better (but it didn’t)
= A so-so good movie: I enjoyed it somewhat but wasn’t all that crazy about it
= A really good movie: I recommend seeing it
= An excellent movie you just got to see! I suggest you put it on your "To Do List" it’s that good.

some favourite websites

For those into it, Nitpickers at

has more movie mistakes than you could ever imagine. My contributions can be seen if you check out the Nitpickers Registry and click on the link Nitpickers Listed by Nitpicker Number, select the group 45,401 - 45,500 and drill down to number 45411. Although I have 56 nitpicks to my credit, some have almost 2,000. You wonder sometimes where they find the time to do it.