“Tomorrow millions of people will curse me, but fate has taken its course.”
Downfall, or Der Untergang, is a German war film which depicts the final days of Adolf Hitler’s rule over Nazi Germany in 1945. The film, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel (Diana, The Invasion, 13 Minutes), is based off the diary entries of Traudl Junge, Hitler’s private secretary who remained with him in Berlin’s Führerbunker until his death. Junge, played by Alexandra Maria Lara, features heavily in the movie, following her from her arrival in Berlin in 1942 and landing her dream job of Hitler’s (Bruno Ganz) secretary. She narrates the dictators final days as allied forces surround the city and he realises the war he is fighting is lost.
The film is all in German but with English subtitles, but this adds to the realism of it and doesn’t take anything away from it; it works because the film is set in Germany with German people all speaking German. Having it in English would ruin the effect, just like in Valkyrie, a great movie but, with the first minute being an exception, all in English with Tom Cruise speaking in his American accent, which takes away from the fact that he is supposed to be playing a German soldier.
I really enjoyed this movie because it gives an insight into something that isn’t often considered when thinking about the Second World War and the fall of the Nazi regime. Junge’s diaries give us an insight into Hitler’s very private life, and the fact that it is all based off diary entries written at the time by someone who was there and who experienced it makes it so much better. I also really enjoyed it because I found it really interesting because I was studying this period and topic in GCSE history when I first watched this movie so it had extra meaning to me, but also I really like history anyway and I enjoy war films similar to this, such as Valkyrie, Enemy at the Gates, Saving Private Ryan, and Fury.
You’ll probably recognise a scene in this film if you’ve ever seen the YouTube sensation ‘Hitler Reacts’. A scene from the movie where Hitler is told some disappointing news about invading Russian forces went viral due to his almost comical raving and ranting in German; the scene was given various different subtitles depicting the Füherious dictator shouting about everything from games consoles to football results and even the teaser trailer for the new Star Wars movie, although I do disagree with what Hitler has to say about it. So yeah, that came from this movie.
As I said the subtitles didn’t put me off this movie or make me enjoy it any less than I would’ve if it had been in English, so I would recommend this to anyone purely because it’s different to what most people watch because of the language.
Jake Carder's AS Media Studies Blog 