Downfall

For a person who is not interested in history and confuses Husák with Hitler, it is certainly a meritorious and interesting piece of work, but for someone with an interest in history, it is a modest account that does not bring any fundamental new information and not even the controversial view of one human being that is so much proclaimed in the press. In any case, the performances were excellent, including Bruno Ganz, whose role was tempting to overact, which fortunately did not happen. Overall, I would see it as a three and a half stars, rounded down this time due to the high expectations. (26/11/2005)

The star of the film "The Fall of the Third Reich" is Adolf Hitler. No, maybe I should correct myself a little. The star is Bruno Ganz, who portrayed the German dictator in an absolutely incredible way, a person who was not afraid to kill millions of people just because they had a different origin than what he desired. True, his ideology was a bit more complicated, but we don't have to go into that. "The Fall of the Third Reich" is about how Hitler's life is coming to an end as the war in Europe is also coming to an end. The Soviets have reached Berlin and the city is being destroyed. The constant background of the whole film is explosions and gunfire. Hitler is still trying to do something to change the situation, he wants to reverse the course of events in his bunker, but gradually realizes that it is no longer possible. The last moments of this mad man are well-known, but when I watched what he actually did, when I could see him portrayed by the excellent Ganz, I realized that Hitler must have had enough sanity to realize that suicide is the only solution to leave this world peacefully and spare himself the inevitable trials that would follow. Eva Braun, his mistress and wife in the final stages of his life, is depicted as a completely fanatic woman who is willing to do anything for her Leader. But she was not alone. The film definitely does not aim to only condemn the Germans, I think that rather than an attack on the nation, it is a demonstration of what a person can achieve when they have sufficient abilities and acquire the necessary power. People are willing to go along with him under any conditions and take any steps, just to avoid being on the other side of the barricade. It is insane, but one single person can control the masses. Even if the masses know that he is insane, they will stand behind him as long as they feel that the other side is worse and that there is a bright future waiting on this - for now, right - side. Or at least the vision of it. More: http://www.filmovy-denik.cz/2012/10/ong-bak-pad-treti-rise-bolt-zathura-3g.html (01/03/2013)

I have never experienced such a quiet audience during the closing credits in a multiplex. Downfall is a modest masterpiece, powerful mainly due to the content that it reconstructs and by the gravity of the events that it depicts. In terms of imagery, it is a theatrically austere interior affair relying on the most realistic possible design of the sets and on the performances of the actors, who are exceptional. Not only Bruno Ganz, but also the other protagonists display maximum commitment to their work. The well-cast faces of Joseph and Magda Goebbels, whose cold-bloodedness and unhealthy devotion to the Führer almost surpass the terrible expression of Hitler’s demonic personality. Goebbels’s cold-eyed expression will haunt me for quite some time. Among other things, the film provokes the thought of what the world might look like if Hitler had succeeded in his plan. The scene in which he makes a visionary speech as he walks alongside a mock-up of the center of the Third Reich’s capital is one of the film’s best. (21/04/2005)

The only negative of the film Downfall is its formal aspects. This is not a key and fatal negative, as some "I always have to write something different than the others" reviewers try to prove in their analyses. The director and screenwriters chose as the main narrative perspective "documentary distance" from the story and, adversely, a very expressive approach to the atmosphere. As a result, the dialogues have a austere and non-stylish feel, while the suffocating atmosphere of the bunker is abundantly and impressively complemented by sound effects (silence vs. rumbling), a camera (which sticks to the characters and promotes a claustrophobic and hopeless feeling) and editing (combining the illusion of interiors with naturalism in exteriors). While the expressive component of the film works perfectly, the documentary aspects tend to slip into excessive semi-pathos, multi-wording, and boringly branched dialogues, which, with a certain repetitiveness, take away momentum from the film. Not fatally, of course. The introduction of a "secondary" narrator in the form of Traudl Jung also proved very useful, who mediates a civilian view of the icons of the Third Reich - a civilian view which, in its naivety and blindness, is perhaps the most tragic feature of the film. And Jung's documentary suffix only points him out in all his nudity "...I should have been more interested..." A chilling finish of one of the storylines. But "Downfall" has more storylines, and it must be admitted that director Oliver Hirschbiegel was able to portray them all with certainty and persuasiveness. The result is a film with a raw atmosphere, teasing with questions (which the viewer has to answer for himself), and it is oppressive in that it does not hide anything with the poor decoys of heroic pathos. German cinema successfully passed the state exam in post-war adulthood... (21/01/2006)

The first war film dealing with the conflict from the other side, and also directed by “natives”. There is a certain interest in the material, but it doesn't have any significant impact on the viewer. The script is simple and the actors (although very decent) practically have nothing to rely on. Bruno Ganz stands out, but mainly because seeing Hitler himself on the screen is already a peculiar and unique experience. But Oliver Hirschbiegel didn't excel in terms of visual presentation. The cold visual style doesn't stand out as it should, and the war scenes are quite implausible and poorly edited. (24/09/2005)