Hey folks, Harry here with another look at a film that may prove to factor into the BEST FOREIGN FILM category at the Oscars this year, as it has just been chosen to represent Germany's film industry as their official film. The movie sounds fascinating, and when you're reading this review, remember, the writer is writing in perhaps his third or fourth language. Be kind.
Hey Harry,
Gretting from the town Graz, in Austria.
I'm pretty nervous, because that's the first review I'm writting to you guys. I've just read the review of "The Downfall - Hitler and the End of the third Reich" by a German on your homepage. I am from Austria and I want to give you my thoughts on Hirschbiegel's new film. By the way, today German movie journalists choosed the film as their Oscar candidate 2004! So here's my first review: (There are not many spoilers):
Before going to the cinema, two days ago, I haven't seen any film that day. In the evening I decided to watch that scandalous picture called "Der Untergang", which is, in the opinion of many journalists, the german "Passion of the Christ".
Everyone was afraid, that Hirschbiegel's portrait of the last months of Adolf Hitler might show the audience a sympathetic Hitler (the same thing was in the US before relasing the TV-production "Hitler: The Rise of Evil"). But Hirschbiegel does something, not many directors can do: He shows Hitler the way he was: Not a monster, not a human. Let's say a human monster!
At the beginning of the film the audience doesn't see anything. Just a black screen and a female off-speaker. She talks about Adolf Hitler and how he was. At the end of the film you hear the woman again, and you see her: It is a scene from the Andre Heller interview film "Blind Spot. Hitler's Secretary" and you can see Traudl Junge, Hitler's private secretary herself.
Oliver Hirschbiegel has done a great job! I wouldn't say that "Der Untergang" (that's the original title) is an unique masterpiece, but it is great. Especially Bruno Ganz as Hitler. While watching the film, I sometimes thought that I'm watching a documenary feature, because Ganz was so great. You couldn't here one word in the cinema while watching Ganz as Hitler! This man gives a great portrait of the evil dictator.
There are some scenes in which he plays a human, who tries to be nice and who actually IS nice in those scenes. But then, there are the scenes in which he plays the devil itself. He screams, is nervous and is simply the perfect Adolf Hitler. In nearly every single scene you can see Hitler shaking his left hand, because he had parcinson. Ganz plays a mad and sick man, who can be nice from time to time. But in the most of the scenes Hitlers shouts and says bad things about Jews and American soldiers. Ganz is awesome as Hitler! If the AMPAS would watch more foreign films and if they were more popular in the US, Bruno Ganz would be a sure bet for the Academy Award as Best Leading Actor!
The Art Directon is more than amazing. You feel like you're in the destroyed Berlin at the end of the Second World War. The bunker, in which plays more than 70% of the whole film, is also well designed.
The costumes are remarkable and they fit to every single character in the film. I have to say it again: I simply felt like I am IN the bunker.
The visual and special effects are very good, especially for a german production. (but hey, it is produced and written by the Bernd Eichinger, who also produced the hollywood-motion picture "Resident Evil"!). There are not many war scenes which play really in the middle of the war, but there are some and those some really convince with good effects and great art direction and set decoration!
Bruno Ganz is not the only actor in "Der Untergang" who is very good. Another acting frontrunner in the film is Alexandra Maria Lara, who plays Hitler's legendary private secretary Traudl Junge. She is against and at the same time for Hitler. She consideres him as a human, but she actually doesn't like his awful political system. But she is faithfull to him. Lara is nearly as good as Ganz, but there are also other good acting performances like the one of Ulrich Matthes, who plays Dr. Josef Goebbels or the one of Thomas Kretschman (we knew him as the nazi who saves the jewish pianist Wladislav Szpilman in Roman Polanski's "The Pianist"!) as Hermann Fegelein. Or their is Julianne Köhler, who plays Hitler's wife Eva Braun. She is quite good in the film, but one of the best female performances gives Corianna Harfouch, who plays Magda Goebbels, the wife of Dr. Josef Goebbels. She is a fanatic nazi-woman and kills her children after the downfall of the Third Reich, just because she doesn't want them to grove up in a world without Hitler and his system.
All the other actors are remarkable and they convince in every single scene.
The german music composer Stephan Zacharias does a great job with his dramatic underscore, which never seems too exagerated. The score doesn't lead the feelings in the movie, it just supports them. The main feelings are coming from the actors.
The screenplay was written by the great german producer Bernd Eichinger and has no historical mistakes. The film has the perfect lenght (150 minutes) for such a history-production.
The only negative thing about "Der Untergang" is, that people who don't know much about Hitler and the Second World War don't really know what it is all about. There are so many important nazi-generals and other people, who were famous in the time of the Third Reich in the movie, but the audience hardly ever hears an important name or fact. But hey, it is not a documentary feature. It is a dark war drama about the downfall of the Third Reich, Hitler's private life, the people who followed him, love, hate, and violence.
At the end of the film, I didn't here one word. People were quiet moving the cinema. I have never seen such a banned crowed before. Yes, there were unique World-War masterpieces like "Schindler's List", but all those american productions can't have such a big effect on the audience like a german production like "Der Untergang" does.
It definitly is one of the best films of the year. I give the film 8 out of 10 points.
People who are not interested in such historical stories also have to watch the film, because it is simply a well-acted dramatic motion picture, which is lead by the great Bruno Ganz who plays the best Hittler ever.
I hope that the film will be shown in the US soon and that it will be nominated as Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. It would also deserve nominations in the categories Best Leading Actor, Art Direction and Screenplay.
So, we'll see if the film is going to be relased soon in the states or not, but I think it is quite possible to happen because it is produced by a german-american producer.
If you want to post this (I hope so) call me themovieslave
