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Downfall (Der untergang) - Bruno Ganz, Alexandria Maria Lara, Juliane Köhler, Oliver Hirschbiegel

Threat advisory: High - High risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

In 1942 Traudl Junge (Alexandra Maria Lara) is personally selected by Hitler (Bruno Ganz) as his secretary and in April 1945 she is with him in the bunker, devoted to the man although wary of his beliefs. Downfall tells the story of Hitler's last days in Berlin from Junge's perspective and is as close to being in the bunker as one can get.

By April 1945, the enemy was at the gates. The Russian army is advancing on Berlin and defeat is inevitable. Hitler's moods range from defiance to delusion and others must decide whether to fight or flee, remain loyal or opt for self-preservation. Hitler ponders the fate of Germany whilst Eva Braun (Juliane Köhler) parties like the last passenger on the Titanic, Magda Goebbels (Corinna Harfouch) kills all her children, while Hitler takes advice on the most effective means of suicide.

Directed with stunning intensity and admirable objectivity by Oliver Hirschbiegel (The experiment - Das experiment), Downfall breaks with taboos in portraying Hitler as a nefarious and seriously flawed man, but just a man nevertheless. Already a record-breaking box office success in Germany and the German Oscar bid for Best Foreign Language Film, Downfall has everything required to become one of the classic films about World War II.

Target demographic movie keyword propaganda

Film German Germany World War II Adolph Hitler Eva Braun Berlin Bunker suicide

Persons of interest

Bruno Ganz .... Adolf Hitler
Alexandra Maria Lara .... Traudl Junge
Corinna Harfouch .... Magda Goebbels
Ulrich Matthes .... Joseph Goebbels
Juliane Köhler .... Eva Braun
Heino Ferch .... Albert Speer
Christian Berkel .... Professor Dr Ernst-Günter Schenck
Matthias Habich .... Professor Dr Werner Haase
Thomas Kretschmann .... SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Fegelein
Michael Mendl .... General der Artillerie Helmuth Weidling
André Hennicke .... SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke
Ulrich Noethen .... Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler
Birgit Minichmayr .... Gerda Christian
Rolf Kanies .... General der Infanterie Hans Krebs
Justus von Dohnanyi .... General der Infanterie Wilhelm Burgdorf
Dieter Mann .... Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel
Christian Redl .... Generaloberst Alfred Jodl
Götz Otto .... Adjutant, SS-Hauptsturmführer Otto Günsche
Thomas Limpinsel .... Heinz Linge, Kammerdiener
Thomas Thieme .... Martin Bormann
Gerald Alexander Held .... Walter Hewel
Donevan Gunia .... Peter Kranz
Bettina Redlich .... Constanze Manziarly
Heinrich Schmieder .... Rochus Misch
Anna Thalbach .... Hanna Reitsch
Dietrich Hollinderbäumer .... Generalfeldmarschall Robert Ritter von Greim
Ulrike Krumbiegel .... Dorothee Kranz
Karl Kranzkowski .... Wilhelm Kranz
Thorsten Krohn .... Leibarzt Dr Ludwig Stumpfegger
Jürgen Tonkel .... SS-Sturmbannführer Erich Kempka
Devid Striesow .... Feldwebel Tornow
Fabian Busch .... Obersturmbannführer Stehr
Christian Hoening .... SS-Reichsarzt Dr Ernst-Robert Grawitz
Aleksandr Slastin .... General Wassili I Tschuikow
Aline Sokar .... Helga Goebbels
Amelie Menges .... Heide Goebbels
Charlotte Stoiber .... Hilde Goebbels
Gregory Borlein .... Helmut Goebbels
Julia Bauer .... Hedda Goebbels
Laura Borlein .... Holde Goebbels
Joachim Fest .... Author: Inside Hitler's bunker
Traudl Junge .... Author: Bis zur letzten stunde
Melissa Müller .... Author: Bis zur letzten stunde
Bernd Eichinger .... Screenwriter
Oliver Hirschbiegel .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

Downfall (Der untergang) official movie site
Downfall (Der untergang) film production notes
Downfall (Der untergang) QuickTime movie trailers
Awards and film festivals:

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS - Oscars) 2005: Nominated: Best Foreign Language Film
Cinematic Intelligence Agency Trenchcoat Awards 2005: Won: Best war (World War II); Nominated: Best cinematographer (Rainer Klausmann), Best film - Subtitles, Best biography, documentary or true drama
European Film Awards 2004: Nominated: Best Actor (Bruno Ganz)
Online Film Critics Society Awards 2005: Nominated: Best foreign-language (non-English) film

Studios and distributors:

Hopscotch Films * 21st Century Pictures

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Downfall is a wonderful film in that it shows us events that happened on the German side of World War II. We know that the Jews fought back in Uprising. The Yanks joined the war in Band of brothers and Saving Private Ryan. The British hunted U-boats in Enigma. Even the seminal submarine film Das boot is about submariners more than it is about Germans. Only in Germany could Der untergang have occurred.

If you have any interest in history, war or teaching people what really happened, Downfall is for you.