The film that started all those Hitler youtube vids!
A very good film IMO, but not exactly a barrel of laughs!
FILM: Downfall
On: Film4 (15)
Date: Friday 4th December 2009 (starting in 31 minutes)
Time: 21:00 to 00:00 (3 hours long)
Oliver Hirschbiegel's Oscar-nominated film is set in Hitler's bunker in the dying days of the war and based on the memoirs of his secretary Traudl Junge. Bruno Ganz portrays the dictator as a man at the end of his tether and beyond reason, railing at those he believes have deserted him, ordering non-existent troops to attack the advancing Allies and throwing untrained teenagers and their grandfathers into battle. Equally chilling is the portrayal of Goebbels and his wife calmly killing their children while an almost maddened Eva Braun literally dances with death. Ganz's performance is superb to the point of unnerving and while there are exterior battle scenes amid the rubble of Berlin, the concentration on the claustrophobic hysteria of the bunker makes for a stunning, gripping film that lingers long in the mind.
(Subtitles, Subtitled, In German with English Subtitles, Widescreen, 2004, 15, 4 Star)
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Starring: Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Corinna Harfouch, Ulrich Matthes, Juliane Köhler, Heino Ferch