| Downfall | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Oliver Hirschbiegel |
| Screenplay by | Bernd Eichinger |
| Based on | |
| Produced by | Bernd Eichinger |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Rainer Klausmann[1] |
| Edited by | Hans Funck[1] |
| Music by | Stephan Zacharias[1] |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Constantin Film (Germany and Austria) Momentum Pictures (United Kingdom) Warner Bros Pictures (International) 01 Distribution (Italy) |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 155 minutes[2] |
| Countries | Germany United Kingdom Italy Austria[3] |
| Language | German |
| Budget | €13.5 million[4] (approx. US$16 million) |
| Box office | $92.2 million[5] |
Downfall (German:Der Untergang) is a 2004historicalwardrama film written and produced byBernd Eichinger and directed byOliver Hirschbiegel. It depicts the final days ofAdolf Hitler (portrayed byBruno Ganz), during theBattle of Berlin inWorld War II, whenNazi Germany is on the verge of total defeat at the hands of theAllies. The cast includesAlexandra Maria Lara,Corinna Harfouch,Ulrich Matthes,Juliane Köhler,Heino Ferch,Christian Berkel,Alexander Held,Matthias Habich, andThomas Kretschmann. The film is a German-Austrian-Italian co-production.
Principal photography took place from September to November 2003, on location inBerlin,Munich, andSaint Petersburg,Russia. As the film is set in and around theFührerbunker, Hirschbiegel used eyewitness accounts, survivors' memoirs, and other historical sources during production to reconstruct the look and atmosphere of 1940s Berlin. The screenplay was based on the booksInside Hitler's Bunker by historianJoachim Fest andUntil the Final Hour byTraudl Junge, one of Hitler's secretaries, among other accounts of the period.
The film premiered at theToronto Film Festival on 14 September 2004. It was controversial with audiences for showing a human side of Hitler and members of the Third Reich.[6] It later received a wide theatrical release in Germany under its production companyConstantin Film. The film grossed over $92 million.Downfall was a critical and commercial success, with international acclaim for the cast's performances (especially Ganz's portrayal of Hitler), Hirschbiegel's direction, and Eichinger's screenplay. It was nominated forBest Foreign Language Film at the77th Academy Awards.
In November 1942,Adolf Hitler interviews young women for the position of personal secretary and choosesTraudl Junge.
On 20 April 1945, Hitler's 56th birthday, Berlin comes under fire fromRed Army artillery, beginning theBattle of Berlin.Reichsführer-SSHeinrich Himmler, unable to persuade Hitler to flee Berlin, leaves to secretly negotiate with theAllies.SS-GruppenführerHermann Fegelein, Himmler's liaison officer and brother-in-law to Hitler's companionEva Braun, is also unable to persuade Hitler to leave. SS doctorObersturmbannführerErnst-Günther Schenck remains in Berlin in defiance ofOperation Clausewitz, granted permission to safeguard the health of the civilian population. The father ofHitler Youth member Peter Kranz, who has been conscripted to fight, tries to persuade him to desert but Peter denounces his father.
At a meeting in theFührerbunker, Hitler forbids the overwhelmed9th Army to retreat, orderingObergruppenführerFelix Steiner'sunits andLieutenant GeneralWalther Wenck's12th Army to counter-attack. Hitler makes a rare foray out of the bunker to award Peter, who has destroyed two enemy tanks, theIron Cross, hailing him as braver than his generals. Hitler then talks toarmaments ministerAlbert Speer about hisscorched earth policy. Speer disagrees with the destruction of Germany's infrastructure, but Hitler believes theGerman people are weak and deserve death. Eva Braun holds a party in theReich Chancellery, which is broken up by artillery fire, and refuses Fegelein's pleas to leave Berlin with him.
When GeneralHelmuth Weidling learns he has been sentenced to death for allegedly moving his command post, he reports to theFührerbunker to clear himself. His action impresses Hitler who promotes him commander of Berlin's defence. When Hitler learns Steiner's weakened forces didn't counter-attack as ordered, Hitler launches into a furious tirade, denouncing his generals and for the first time openly acknowledges the war is lost. He promises to commit suicide rather than surrender or leave Berlin.
SS-BrigadeführerWilhelm Mohnke asks Propaganda MinisterJoseph Goebbels to stop sendinginexperienced soldiers into the fighting but Goebbels replies he has no sympathy and that the German people, who proved weaker than their enemies, deserve their fate. Hitlerreceives a message fromReichsmarschallHermann Göring, requesting state leadership for himself in the absence of Hitler's freedom of action. Hitler orders Göring's arrest for treason. Speer makes a final visit to theFührerbunker and admits he's defied the scorched earth order. Hitler, emotionally overcome by the betrayal, dismisses Speer without punishment.
Hitler learns of Himmler's secret negotiations with the Allies and orders his execution. SS physicianObergruppenführerErnst-Robert Grawitz is refused permission by Hitler to leave Berlin. Fearing Allied reprisal, he kills himself and his family with hand grenades. Hitler discovers Fegelein's plans to desert and has him executed despite Eva's pleas.
As conditions worsen in Berlin, Hitler hopes Wenck's 12th Army will turn the tide. Hitler dictates hislast will and testament to Junge before marrying Eva in an early morning ceremony. When Hitler learns that the 12th Army is unable to save Berlin, Hitler plans his suicide, testing poison on his dogBlondi. After bidding farewell to his staff, and refusing a final plea by Frau Goebbels to escape, hecommits suicide with Eva. The couple is cremated in the Chancellery garden.
GeneralHans Krebs fails to negotiate a ceasefire with Red ArmyColonel GeneralVasily Chuikov, who insists on Germany'sunconditional surrender. Goebbels' wifeMagda poisonstheir six children withcyanide capsules. Krebs andWilhelm Burgdorfcommit suicide before Weidling announces the unconditional surrender of German forces in Berlin. Peter, sole survivor of his unit, discovers that his parents were executed. The Goebbels commit suicide and the remaining occupants of the bunker attempt to breakout from the city. Only Junge successfully escapes, joined by Peter. German diplomat SS-BrigadeführerWalther Hewel commits suicide despite Schenk's attempts to persuade him to live.
The film concludes with documentary footage of an elderly Junge confessing that her youthful ignorance should have been no excuse for her involvement in the Nazi regime.
Additional cast members in smaller roles includeJulia Jentsch as Hannah Potrovsky,Alexander Slastin asVasily Chuikov, Elena Dreyden as Inge Dombrowski, Norbert Heckner asWalter Wagner, Silke Nikowski as Frau Grawitz, Leopold von Buttlar as Sohn Grawitz, Veit Stübner as Tellermann, Boris Schwarzmann asMatvey Blanter, Vsevolod Tsurilo as Russian Adjutant, Vasily Reutov asTheodor von Dufving. The Goebbels children are portrayed by Alina Sokar (Helga), Charlotte Stoiber (Hilda), Gregory Borlein (Helmut), Julia Bauer (Hedda), Laura Borlein (Holde), and Amelie Menges (Heide).
Producer and screenwriterBernd Eichinger wanted to make a film aboutAdolf Hitler and theNazi Party for twenty years but was, at first, discouraged after its enormity prevented him from doing so.[7] Eichinger was inspired to begin the filmmaking process after readingInside Hitler's Bunker: The Last Days of the Third Reich (2002) by historianJoachim Fest.[8][9][7] Eichinger also based the film on the memoirs ofTraudl Junge, one of Hitler's secretaries, calledUntil the Final Hour: Hitler's Last Secretary (2002).[10][11] When writing the screenplay, he used the booksInside the Third Reich (1969), byAlbert Speer,[12] one of the highest-ranking Nazi officials to survive both the war and the Nuremberg trials;Hitler's Last Days: An Eye-Witness Account (1973), byGerhard Boldt;[13]Das Notlazarett unter der Reichskanzlei: Ein Arzt erlebt Hitlers Ende in Berlin (1995) byErnst-Günther Schenck; andSoldat: Reflections of a German Soldier, 1936–1949 (1992) bySiegfried Knappe as references.[14]
After completing the script for the film, Eichinger presented it to directorOliver Hirschbiegel. Though he was interested in exploring how the people of Germany "could have plumbed such depths", as a German, Hirschbiegel hesitated to take it as he "reacted to the idea of Nazism as a taboo". Hirschbiegel eventually agreed to helm the project, stating that he "noticed that it just wouldn't leave me in peace, and in my heart, before accepting the project, I knew that I had already opened myself up to it."[15][14]
Downfall is the first German film to broach the subject of Hitler straight-on sinceThe Last Ten Days (1955).[16]
WhenBruno Ganz, who was Hirschbiegel's first choice for the role, was offered the role of Hitler, being sent the screenplay and Fest's book, he was reluctant to accept the part, and many of his friends advised against it,[4][17] but he believed that the subject had "a fascinating side", and ultimately agreed to take the role.[18] Ganz watchedThe Last Ten Days, in which Albin Skoda played Hitler, which convinced Ganz that it was really possible to play the dictator.[19] Ganz studied theHitler and Mannerheim recording for four months to properly mimic Hitler's conversational voice and Austrian dialect. Ganz came to the conclusion that Hitler hadParkinson's disease, noting his observation of Hitler's shaky body movements present in the newsreelDie Deutsche Wochenschau, and decided to visit a hospital to study patients with the disease.[18] Ganz auditioned in the casting studio with makeup for half an hour and tested his voice for Hirschbiegel who was convinced by his performance.[4][20]
Alexandra Maria Lara was cast asTraudl Junge; she was given Junge's bookUntil the Final Hour (2002), which she called her "personal treasure", to read during filming. Before she was cast, she had seenAndré Heller's documentary filmIm toten Winkel which impressed her and influenced her perspective on Junge.[21][22]
.jpg)
Principal photography lasted twelve weeks from September to November 2003, under theworking titleSunset.[23][14] The film is set mostly in and around theFührerbunker; Hirschbiegel made an effort to accurately reconstruct the look and atmosphere ofWorld War II through eyewitness accounts, survivors'memoirs, and other historical sources. Hirschbiegel filmed in the cities ofBerlin,Munich, andSaint Petersburg, Russia, with a run-down industrial district along theObvodny Canal used to portray the historical setting in Berlin.[23][24] Hirschbiegel noted the depressing atmosphere surrounding the shoot, finding relief through listening toJohann Sebastian Bach's music.[17] Alexandra Maria Lara also mentioned the depressing and intense atmosphere during filming. To lighten the mood, Lara's colleagues engaged in activities such as football, while Ganz tried to keep a happy mood by retiring during shooting breaks.[22]
The film was produced on a €13.5 million budget.[4] The bunker and Hitler'sWolf's Lair were constructed atBavaria Studios in Munich by production designer Bernd Lepel.[20][1] The damagedReich Chancellery was depicted through the use ofCGI. Hirschbiegel decided to limit the use of CGI, props and sets so as not to make the set design look like that of atheatre production,[20] explaining:
The only CGI shot that's been used in the film was the one with the [Reich Chancellery] because of course we could not reconstruct that – that's the only thing. I'm very proud of that, because if you do a war movie, you cannot do that and build sets. You feel the cardboard. You feel that it's all made to entertain, and it takes away from that horror that war basically means.[20]
According to Eichinger, the film's overlying idea was to make a film about Hitler and wartime Germany that was very close to historical truth, as part of a theme that would allow the German nation to save their own history and "experience their own trauma". To accomplish this, the film explores Hitler's decisions and motives during his final days through the perspective of the individuals who lived in the Führerbunker during those times.[25] Eichinger chose not to include mention of theHolocaust because it was not the topic of the film. He also thought it was "impossible" to show the "misery" and "desperation" of theconcentration camps cinematically.[6][26]
During production, Hirschbiegel believed that Hitler would often charm people using his personality, only to manipulate and betray them.[17] Many of the people in the film, including Traudl Junge, are shown to be enthusiastic in interacting with Hitler instead of feeling threatened or anxious by his presence and authority. The production team sought to give Hitler a three-dimensional personality, with Hirschbiegel telling NBC: "We know from all accounts that he was a very charming man – a man who managed to seduce a whole people into barbarism."[27] He said Hitler was "like a shell", attracting people with self-pity, but inside the shell was only "an enormous will for destruction".[17]
The film explores the suicides and deaths of the Nazi Party as opposed to the people who choose life. Hitler's provision of cyanide pills to those in the bunker and the Goebbels' murder of their children are shown as selfish deeds while people such asSchenck, who chose to help the injured and escape death, are shown as rational and generous.[28][29] In the DVD commentary, Hirschbiegel said that the events in the film were "derived from the accounts, from descriptions of people" in the bunker.[30] The film also includes an introduction and closing with the realJunge in an interview fromIm toten Winkel, where she admits feeling guilt for "not recognizing this monster in time".[29]
Downfall premiered at theToronto Film Festival on September 14, 2004.[13][31] After first failing to find a distributor, the film was eventually released on September 16 in Germany byConstantin Film.[9][32] It premiered in the U.S. in Manhattan on February 18, 2005, underNewmarket Films.[33] On its broadcast in the UK, Channel 4 marketed it with the strapline: "It's a happy ending. He dies."[34]
Downfall sold nearly half a million tickets in Germany for its opening weekend and attracted 4.5 million viewers in the first three months.[35][31] The final North American gross was $5,509,040, while $86,671,870 was made with its foreign gross.[5] The film made $93.6 million altogether.[14]
Downfall was nominated forBest Foreign Language Film at the77th Academy Awards.[36] It won the 2005BBC Four World Cinema competition.[37] The film was also ranked number 48 inEmpire magazine's "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" in 2010.[38]
The film was released onDVD on August 2, 2005, bySony Pictures Home Entertainment.[39]Shout! Factory released a collector's editionBlu-ray in March 2018, with a "making-of" featurette, cast and crew interviews, andaudio commentary from director Oliver Hirschbiegel.[40] The film was released onUltra HD Blu-ray in Germany in 2024.
In addition to the theatrical version, which has a length of 150 minutes, there was also an extended version produced especially for television. First aired byDas Erste on 19 October 2005, the 25 minutes longer Extended Version was played in two parts each with a length of approx. 90 minutes.[41][42] Later it was also released onDVD. The Extended Version features many new scenes in the bunker and shows more of the bombed-out Berlin.[43]
The review aggregation websiteRotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 90% based on 137 reviews from critics, with a weighted average of 8.2/10. The website's consensus reads, "Downfall is an illuminating, thoughtful and detailed account of Hitler's last days."[44] OnMetacritic, the film was awarded the "Must-See" badge, holding a weighted average of 82 out of 100 based on 35 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[45]
Reviews for the film were often very positive,[46] despite debate surrounding the film from critics and audiences upon its release(seeHumanization concerns).[47][26] Ganz's portrayal of Hitler was singled out for praise;[48][49][50]David Denby forThe New Yorker said that Ganz "made the dictator into a plausible human being". With respect to German uneasiness about "humanizing" Hitler, Denby said that while "journalists in [Germany] wondered aloud whether the "human" treatment of Hitler might not inadvertently aid theneo-Nazi movement...in his many rants in [the film] Hitler says that the German people do not deserve to survive, that they have failed him by losing the war and must perish – not exactly the sentiments [...] that would spark a recruitment drive. This Hitler may be human, but he's as utterly degraded a human being as has ever been shown on the screen, a man whose every impulse leads to annihilation".[51] Addressing other critics like Denby,Chicago Sun-Times criticRoger Ebert said the film did not provide an adequate portrayal of Hitler's actions, because he felt no film could, and that no response would be sufficient. Ebert said Hitler was, in reality, "the focus for a spontaneous uprising by many ofthe German people, fueled by racism, xenophobia, grandiosity and fear".[52]
Hermann Graml, history professor and formerLuftwaffe helper, praised the film and said that he had not seen a film that was "so insistent and tormentingly alive". Graml said that Hitler's portrayal was presented correctly by showing Hitler's will "to destroy, and his way of denying reality".[53] Julia Radke of the German websiteFuture Needs Remembrance praised the film's acting and called it well crafted and a solidKammerspielfilm, though it could lose viewer interest due to a lack of concentration on the narrative perspective.[54] German authorJens Jessen said that the film "could have been stupider" and called it a "chamber play that could not be staged undramatically". Jessen also said that it was not as spectacular as the pre-media coverage could have led one to believe, and it did not arouse the "morbid fascination" the magazineDer Spiegel was looking for.[55]
Hitler biographer SirIan Kershaw wrote inThe Guardian that the film had enormous emotive power, calling it a triumph and "a marvellous historical drama". Kershaw also said that he "found it hard to imagine that anyone (other than the usual neo-Nazi fringe) could possibly find Hitler a sympathetic figure" in his final days, noting how Hitler "could be kind and considerate to his secretaries, and with the next breath show cold ruthlessness, dispassionate brutality, in determining the deaths of millions". He also praised Ganz's performance, stating that compared to actors who played Hitler beforehand, such asAlec Guinness orAnthony Hopkins, "this is the only one which to me is compelling. Part of this is the voice. Ganz has Hitler's voice to near perfection. It is chillingly authentic".[32] Wim Wenders, in a review for the German newspaperDie Zeit, said the film was absent of a strong point of view for Hitler which made him harmless, and comparedDownfall toResident Evil: Apocalypse, stating that inResident Evil the viewer would know which character was evil.[4][47]
Alex von Tunzelmann ofThe Guardian gave the film a grade of A, saying: "Downfall is an intelligent, thoroughly researched recreation of Hitler's last days, and a terrific movie."[56]
Tom Fordy praised the film as an achievement.[57]
They just got it wrong. Bad people do not walk around with claws like vicious monsters, even though it might be comforting to think so.[17]
Downfall was the subject of dispute by critics and audiences in Germany before and after its release, with many concerned regarding Hitler's portrayal in the film in spite of his actions and ideologies.[47][32][58] The portrayal sparked debate in Germany due to publicity from commentators, film magazines, and newspapers,[27][59] leading the German tabloidBild to ask the question, "Are we allowed to show the monster as a human being?"[27]
Russian press visited the set, making the producers uneasy and occasionally defensive. Yana Bezhanskay, director of Globus Film, Constantin's Russian partner, raised her voice to Russian journalists and said: "This is an antifascist film and nowhere in it do you see Hitler praised."[23]
Cristina Nord fromDie Tageszeitung criticized the portrayal, and said that though it was important to make films about perpetrators, "seeing Hitler cry" had not informed her on the last days of the Third Reich.[60] Some have supported the film:Hans-Jürgen Syberberg, director ofHitler: A Film from Germany (1977), felt the time was right to "paint a realistic portrait" of Hitler.[17][9] Ganz said that he was proud of the film; though he said people had accused him of "humanizing" Hitler.[59]
The basic premises of the film are true and largely accurate. While the majority of the characters in the film are based on actual people, the character Peter Kranz is not, though based onAlfred Czech, a 12-year-old who saved a dozen German soldiers from a Russian attack in his home village of Goldenau (nowZłotniki,Poland).[61] AuthorGiles MacDonogh criticized the portrayals of SS officersWilhelm Mohnke andErnst-Günther Schenck as being sympathetic,[62] noting that Mohnke was accused of murdering a group of Britishprisoners of war in theWormhoudt massacre.[N 1] Hirschbiegel has said in interviews that these allegations, as well as allegations that Schenck had performed unethical medical experiments, were unproven.[65]
WhenRochus Misch, Hitler's bodyguard, was asked about the film's historical accuracy in a 2005 interview, he stated that although it was factually accurate, the film was "Americanized", claiming that Hitler never screamed in the bunker and that the bunker was generally quiet,[66] although Hitler's furious rant about Steiner's failure to attack was recorded by eyewitnesses.[67] According to Misch, Magda Goebbels insisted that her children stay in the bunker and took the decision that they should be killed when she and her husband committed suicide, as opposed to the couple taking the decision together, as depicted in the film.[66] Bunker nurseErna Flegel commended the film, stating that although it got some minor details wrong, it was generally accurate.[68]
Downfall is well known for its rise in popularity due to many internetparody videos andmemes which use several scenes in the film: when Hitler phonesGeneral der FliegerKarl Koller about Berlin's April 20 bombardment; when Hitler discusses acounterattack against advancing Soviet forces with his generals; where Hitler becomes angry after hearing that Steiner's attack never happened, due to a lack of forces; when Hitler hears Luftwaffe commanderHermann Göring's telegram; when Hitler is having dinner and discoversReichsführer-SSHeinrich Himmler secretly made asurrender offer to theWestern Allies; and where Hitler ordersOtto Günsche to findSS-GruppenführerHermann Fegelein. In the videos - which feature the clip of Hitler becoming angry that Steiner's attack never happened, an event that took place in real life on April 22, 1945 - the original German audio is retained, but new subtitles are added so that Hitler and his subordinates seem to be reacting to an issue or setback in present-day politics, sports, entertainment, popular culture, or everyday life.[69][70][71][72] In addition, some users combine footage from the film with other sources, dub the German dialogue over video games and/or footage from other films and TV series, or edit images of the characters onto pre-existing or animated footage, often for greater comic effect.[73][74][71]
Hirschbiegel spoke positively about these parodies in a 2010 interview withNew York magazine, saying that many of them were funny and a fitting extension of the film's purpose.[75] Nevertheless,Constantin Film asked video sites to remove them.[69] The producers initiated a removal of parody videos from YouTube in 2010.[76] Thisprompted more posting of parody videos of Hitler complaining that the parodies were being taken down, and a resurgence of the videos on the site.[74]
One particular parody was the subject ofBP Refinery v Tracey, in Australia, where aBP employee named Scott Tracey was terminated from his job for a video satirisingcollective bargaining negotiations at the company he was working in. Tracey managed to successfully appeal his unfair dismissal to the Full Federal Court who decided that the video in question was not offensive, and had his job reinstated and received $200,000 in compensation.[77]
The 2012 science fiction comedyIron Sky and the 2015 political satire filmLook Who's Back both parody the scene of Hitler finding out Steiner's attack did not take place; Nazis are a central plot point in both films.[78][79]
Informational notes
Citations
It was good. They got a few small details wrong but generally it was right. I even recognised myself as a nurse.
In various home-subtitled remakes over the last few years, Hitler explodes when told that the McMansion he was trying to flip is in foreclosure, that the band Oasis has split up, that the Colts lost the Super Bowl or that people keep making more "Downfall" parodies.
Bibliography
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)Further reading
| Politics | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Events | |||||
| Places of residence |
| ||||
| Personal life | |||||
| Personal belongings | |||||
| Perceptions | |||||
| Family |
| ||||
| Other | |||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
