Product Details

• Actors: Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Ulrich Matthes, Corinna Harfouch, Juliane Köhler
• Directors: Oliver Hirschbiegel
• Format: PAL, Import, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Subtitles: Spanish
• Region: Region 4 (Read more about DVD formats.)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B0031KGEI8

Editorial Reviews

The riveting subject of Downfall is nothing less than the disintegration of Adolf Hitler in mind, body, and soul. A 2005 Academy Award nominee for best foreign language film, this German historical drama stars Bruno Ganz (Wings of Desire) as Hitler, whose psychic meltdown is depicted in sobering detail, suggesting a fallen, pathetic dictator on the verge on insanity, resorting to suicide (along with Eva Braun and Joseph and Magda Goebbels) as his Nazi empire burns amidst chaos in mid-1945. While staging most of the film in the claustrophobic bunker where Hitler spent his final days, director Oliver Hirschbiegel (Das Experiment) dares to show the gentler human side of der Fuehrer, as opposed to the pure embodiment of evil so familiar from many other Nazi-era dramas. This balanced portrayal does not inspire sympathy, however: We simply see the complexity of Hitler's character in the greater context of his inevitable downfall, and a more realistic (and therefore more horrifying) biographical portrait of madness on both epic and intimate scales.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A Demon's Depressing Downfall, November 20, 2007

By 

Walter T. Aperkins "Moneywaster" (Northern Va) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Downfall (VHS Tape)

Great acting and a story that rings true in many ways. A movie of genius and deft execution. As for the story, Hitler got what was coming to him. A shame that everyone else (including many Germans) had to suffer for the madness and mistakes of a fool who happened to be at the right place and the right time to do maximum damage to most of the world. He did more to destroy the old order and bring down the Western Anglo-Saxons than 10 Communist revolutions.