re:mote voices

Title: The Downfall [Der Untergang]
Cast: Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Ulrich Matthes, Juliane Köhler, Heino Ferch, Christian Berkel, Matthias Habich, André Hennicke, Ulrich Noethen
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel

Der Untergang is the first major film to cover the Second World War and the life of Hitler to come from Germany. In particular, as the title suggests, this is a film about the downfall of Hitler and of Berlin. The story is told for the most part from the point of view of Traudl Junge – a girl who was 22 at the time, and employed as a secretary to the Fuhrer, despite the fact that she didn’t especially support Hitler’s regime.

Apart from the significance of this being Germany’s first exploration of Hitler, it takes a curious approach to events. The film has a tight focus, concentrating on the last few days of Hitler’s life, and the siege of Berlin. In doing so Berlin almost seems to exist in a vacuum. The events of the war, and the atrocities thereof are not covered, and we never really get a sense of them. Which has an interesting effect on how we regard the various characters. Of course people like Hitler and Goebbels come across as the kind of monsters we might expect, even if they are depicted as human monsters. While others have a greater humanity, displaying compassion, bravery and all.

On the one hand, this perhaps creates a sense of denial, the dark events are not shown, and therefore they did not happen. On the other hand, statements by Hitler and Goebbels and in Junge’s own conclusion turn this around. Instead of denial of events, or placing them solely at the feet of the Nazis, the suggestion is instead given that the people of Germany were fully responsible for events themselves. Since it was the people of Germany that put the Nazis in power. Giving this film a particular resonance, showing as it does as Tony Blair runs for a historic third term in office, having taken Britain into an illegal war, one which remains controversial amongst the British people.


For the most part the film shows very little fighting. Which is not to suggest that this is not an intense and violent film. To some degree, The Downfall has something of an end of the world feel to it. We witness a city that is being heavily bombed. We witness a city that is coming to terms with the idea that its days are numbered. Only at the end do we really start to get a sense of contextualisation – when we finally encounter the advancing Russians who have been bombing Berlin all this time.

As with all depictions of real life stories we have to take events with a certain pinch of salt. Such that we have a version of the downfall of Hitler, which we can interpret to some degree, but we have to remember that it is just one vision. With that, it is interesting to see the way in which Hitler is seen to be such a personality. The film showing the idea that people were so scared of his reactions that they didn’t want to contradict him, even if it meant telling him something important. This sees the different characters fall into a handful of distinct groups – those who are blindly fanatic and will follow Hitler at all costs, those who are reduced to inaction by an unwillingness to talk back, and those who are incredulous as to the way everyone else is behaving in the face of events.

Which partly accounts for the increasing absurdity that can be detected in this film as events unfold. While some are fighting tooth and nail, anything to avoid the humiliation of surrender that Germany experienced at the end of the First World War, others have settled down to a heavy drinking session. For me this leads to a surprising element of black humour lurking within the film. I would even swear there is one scene where the lead character walks through a room of soldiers and it seems that everyone of them is discussing the best way of killing themselves – a room full of people miming nooses, slashed wrists and shots to the head plays somewhat as being over the top.

Der Untergang is a difficult film to pin down. I am not particularly a fan of war films, of the kind of material shown here. Which does make it difficult to compare the kinds of effects that are used for explosive scenes; they are undeniably striking sequences, though perhaps it has all been done before? The film is a long one, over two hours long, but it does seem to flow well, and I was not particularly aware of the length. The film works with a cast of characters, switching between them to show aspects of events, the variety of ways people react, and to keep the film moving along. The film has high production values, and the solid performances, at least from the lead actors, makes this an effective and affecting film.