Release Year: 2005 Rating: R Duration: 150 minutes Other Title: The Downfall: Hitler and the End of the Third Reich Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel Producer: Bernd Eichinger Distributor: Newmarket Films
synopsis
It's the last days of Adolf Hitler, April 1945, and Hitler's personal secretary Traudl Junge finds herself in the Der Fuhrer's bunker. Facing inevitable defeat, Hilter's moods range from defiance to fight or flee, remain loyal or opt for self-preservation. Eva Braun parties while Magda Goebbels kills her children.
cast
Alexandra Maria Lara as Traudl Junge Bruno Ganz as Adolf Hitler
quote
Walter Hewel: Why do you want to live on?
Prof. Dr. Ernst-Günter Schenck: And you? Why do you absolutely want to die?
Walter Hewel: You see this?
[shows him a cyanide cap]
Walter Hewel: The Führer personally gave it to me!
Prof. Dr. Ernst-Günter Schenck: [bitter] As last honor?
Walter Hewel: ...maybe.
The best Christmas present ever! Over 60 images chronical the downfall and capture of Saddam Hussein in this history collage screensaver. Music included. A celebration of freedom for both America and Iraq. FREEWARE. Source: Ezthemes Size: (1476 Kb)
There have been a lot of films about World War II but only a handful become part of the public consciousness. Mention the submarine warfare and most people will probably think of DAS BOAT. Mention D-Day and people will remember images from THE LONGEST DAY. DOWNFALL is certainly a very good film. Whether it will stand with the handful of great war films like DAS BOOT remains to be seen. This is probably by a wide margin the best film that examines Adolf Hitler and his close associates during the fall of the Third Reich. This is not the first time the story has been told. In 1981 Anthony Hopkins played Hitler in THE BUNKER and Alec Guinness played the role in HITLER: THE LAST TEN DAYS. In DOWNFALL it is Bruno Ganz as Hitler. But what sets this version apart is the detail, much of which was gleaned from the testimony of Hitler's personal secretary. The script is based on the 2002 documentary BLIND SPOT: HITLER'S SECRETARY.
