Downfall (2004)
Der Untergang (original title)

Traudl Junge, the final secretary for Adolf Hitler, tells of the Nazi dictator's final days in his Berlin bunker at the end of WWII.

Director:

Oliver Hirschbiegel

Writers:

Bernd Eichinger (screenplay), Joachim Fest (book),

Stars:

Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Ulrich Matthes

Top 250 #111 | Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 17 wins & 17 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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	...	Prof. Ernst-Günther Schenck
Matthias Habich	...	Prof. Werner Haase
Thomas Kretschmann	...	Hermann Fegelein
Michael Mendl	...	General Weidling
André Hennicke	...	General Mohnke
Ulrich Noethen	...	Heinrich Himmler
Birgit Minichmayr	...	Gerda Christian
Rolf Kanies	...	General Hans Krebs
Justus von Dohnányi	...	General Wilhelm Burgdorf

Storyline

In April of 1945, Germany stands at the brink of defeat with the Soviet Armies closing in from the west and south. In Berlin, capital of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler proclaims that Germany will still achieve victory and orders his Generals and advisers to fight to the last man. "Downfall" explores these final days of the Reich, where senior German leaders (such as Himmler and Goring) began defecting from their beloved Fuhrer, in an effort to save their own lives, while still others (Joseph Goebbels) pledge to die with Hitler. Hitler, himself, degenerates into a paranoid shell of a man, full of optimism one moment and suicidal depression the next. When the end finally does comes, and Hitler lies dead by his own hand, what is left of his military must find a way to end the killing that is the Battle of Berlin, and lay down their arms in surrender.

---

Plot Keywords:

Bunker | Military | Russian | Germany | Nazi | 

---

Taglines:

April 1945, a nation awaits its...

---

Genres:

Biography | Drama | History | War

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence, disturbing images and some nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [us]

Country:

Germany Austria Italy

Language:

German Russian

Release Date:

16 September 2004 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Downfall

Filming Locations:

Bavaria Filmstudios, Geiselgasteig, Grünwald, Bavaria, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

€13,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$201,836 (Brazil) (6 May 2005)

Gross:

$1,288,633 (Brazil) (8 July 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Constantin Film Produktion, Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

156 min 178 min (extended)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Christian Berkel, who portrays Schenck, stated his own background is not too far from his character. His father was also a doctor during the war, arrested by the Russians afterward, then released. His mother's side, however, was Jewish. Almost all of his relatives on her side, save his grandmother and two cousins, were lost in the camps.

---

Goofs

After Magda Goebbels poisons her children, she comes out of their room and immediately crouches against the doorframe. In the next shot she's considerably further away from the doorframe than in the previous shot, with no time to have moved.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Traudl Junge: I've got the feeling that I should be angry with this child, this young and oblivious girl. Or that I'm not allowed to forgive her for not seeing the nature of that monster. That she didn't realise what she was doing. And mostly because I've gone so obliviously. Because I wasn't a fanatic Nazi. I could have said in Berlin, "No, I'm not doing that. I don't want to go the Führer's headquarters." But I didn't do that. I was too curious. I didn't realise that fate would lead me ...

---

Crazy Credits

After the final credits there is a statement by the real Traudl Jung about her feelings of guilt and responsibility. In the British Cinema release, this is moved to before the credits.

---

Connections

Spoofed in The Cleveland Show: The Wide World of Cleveland Show (2013)
parodied in the German Cleveland show

---

Soundtracks

"Die Blauen Dragoner Sie Reiten"
(Hans Hertel / G.W. Harmssen)
Courtesy of Voggenreiter Verlag, Bonn

User Reviews

this is the best....

Who better to make a WWII film than the Germans themselves? This is possibly the best WWII film I have seen yet. It is a very intense movie about the final days of Adolf Hitler (a SUPERB roll played by Bruno Ganz, he should get at least one Oscar for this...) which had me coming back to see the movie a second and even a third time (I saw T3 only twice, he he). And not only Bruno Ganz has done a great performance, the entire cast gives it all their best. Very good film indeed.

As I said, it's a film about Adolf Hitlers final days, trapped in a bunker in Berlin, while the Russians are slowly moving closer. Hitler losing his faith in a 'good' outcome, the final bullet, everything is has happened for real. But when I left the cinema I had the idea I had just been watching a fictional story. A perfect script, made in real life 59 years ago. Not much to say about anything else. If you are interested in WWII stuff, go see it in the cinema, it's worth every penny.