Der Untergang (film)

I felt like 'you need to be this stubborn guy to be able to speak German','you have to dig your gutter out to bring this Umlaut and Eszett through your tongue'. Actually this movie - Der Untergang - made me to feel like this. Bruno Ganz's casting as Adolf Hitler will make anyone watching this movie to shout 'Hail. My Furher'. The whole story is about the interesting and terrible go-thro's experienced by the youngest private secretary 'Traudl Junge', during the last ten days of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun in the Furherbunker. As the real Traudl comes into picture claiming her insanity of admiring and fascinated to Hitler - in her words 'the greatest criminal ever to have lived'.

Movie starts as a group of young ladies from Berlin, including Traudl, arriving at the Wolfsschanze - Hitler's eastern headquarters, for interview to be Hitler's private assistant, where young Traudl Humps gets selected. Then the next scene lifts to 56th birthday of Adolf, the war almost reaching its end. Movie goes on as showing the trusted generals of Hitler couldn't do anything against the upcoming Soviet enclosure to Berlin. In the mean time the movie describes the people loving kindhearted Colonel Dr.Gunther helping the medic team treating the civilians and military units. Third line of story explains a boy - Peter - from Hitler Youth fighting and witnessing the terrible things happening around him and a mob killing his parents for not leaving Berlin.

This movie also shows the personal experience of Traudl Junge with Hitler, and her experience witnessing him committing suicide with his 48 hours wife Eva Braun. After Hitler's death Joseph Goebbels becomes the Chancellor and commits suicide with his wife Magada after killing all their six children. Movie ends with Traudl escaping with young Peter through the Soviet Army. Subsequent facts of the other survivors were superimposed in the end.

Every actors in this movie had lived to their character and Ganz gets the salute. Director Oliver Hirshbiegel had taken much care to make audience feel the heat but failed in some scenes. Remember this movie doesn't show the real Hitler who was barbaric in nature, and this is only the view of an innocent secretary who apologizes being innocent. So don't get sympathized to Hitler as Ganz will make you to. I give four out of five to this Downfall and a full to the actors.