WW2 Film Study
Asher Baykitch
Chosen Film: Downfall
Part 1
This world war two film, Downfall begins with a documentary of Hitlers Secretary Trudi Junges and the story progresses as the army and the air force of the Russian Soviet ‘s begin to attack Berlin. It was the battle of Berlin when Hitler swore to either defeat the army in Berlin or else face his downfall. This movie followed the final days of Hitler and his evil plans when many of his Nazi soldiers deserted him whereas many stayed loyal to him. The film covers different stages of his Nazi life but for the most part the viewers mainly see the stage of his life where he is depressed. Towards the end of the movie Hitler and his wife commit suicide due to their failure.
The theme of Hitler’s absurdity is well shown in the film, with scenes such as Hitler screaming at his soldier’s due to them abandoning him. We then see the result of that which is death. This movie also touches on the theme of the loyalty some Nazi’s gave to Hitler. An example is Hitler’s secretary who assisted Hitler in writing his will and when Hitler commit suicide, his secretary wanted to do the same thing. Even though his secretary did not die, she hated the world without Hitler.
Downfall portrays Hitler in the public and private spheres of Germany. This technique was used so it can reveal ‘the real Hitler’. There is a sense in this movie that casts Hitler in the light of his greatness. It grants him extraordinary knowledge, organizational skills and charismatic powers over the German society. It has been stated that to study Hitler is to make him human and to humanize is to forgive. Downfall not only tries to dehumanize Hitler, but also hints to glorifying his existence.
Another theory brought by this film is the idea of Sonderweg. Sonderweg is the idea that Germany’s identity was so different from its western counterparts that its ‘separate path’ ended in innate character flaw. If the behaviour of all Germans could be classified into one category because of their terrible crimes taking the lives of so many. There is a quality to this film which gets under your skin. It takes a while to put a finger on it but then you do, it hits you like a sack of bricks. Everything to this film, the dialogue, the acting, the camerawork, all work as a consistent blueprint to lead the viewers into accepting the theme of Sonderweg.
In conclusion, the 2004 film ‘Downfall’ is very accurate in the way it depicted the downfall of the Nazi party. It reveals to viewers Hitler’s insanity when he was abandoned by his Nazi soldiers and how it resulted in his death. The film also unveils the ‘real Hitler’ by portraying him in the civilian perspective and the more private, inner Nazi circle perspective. The movie also introduces the theory of Sonderweg and how Germany was so different to its western counterparts
Part 2
The film Downfall is very accurate and has very little inaccuracies. The dialogue, the cinematography, the story and other key aspects of the film made it very on-point. The characters even spoke German to make the film an even more ‘real’ experience
The way that the Nazis idolized Hitler in this film was shown very accurately in the film. The repulsive love they have for Hitler was apparently strong enough for the German’s to kill themselves and their family along with them. This was well portrayed in the film.
The film also accurately showed how Hitler severely lost his mind in the final days of his life. It went into extreme detail; an example is the well-known scene where he yelled at a room full of his important colleagues for apparently lying to him. This can be quoted with “Everyone has been lying to me. Even the SS! (Schurzstaffel, corps of the Nazi party) Our Generals are just a bunch of contemptible, disloyal cowards.”. The director was smart to include a scene like this because Hitler’s iconic breakdown truly marked the end of his supremacy over Europe. The director was also smart to include other scenes which show his insanity such as when he ordered his own soldiers to be killed.
This film also accurately displayed what the final battles in Berlin were like. It showed the depressing sight of war which is what many soldiers saw when they died. The accurate battle details in this film made it quite disturbing, for example, when Hitler was in his downfall phase and his soldiers abandoned him, he used boy soldiers to fight for Germany. From this, the film showed Hitler’s disregard for the care of others.
Leaving the many accuracies in this film, there is one large inaccuracy. Post World War Two in the film, the secretary who is recruited by Hitler at the start of the film, is walking through the Russian border line and then rides away on a bike with a young boy. Whilst in fact in real life, when she attempted to leave Germany, the Russians were troublesome for her and there is no recollection of her leaving on a bike with a young boy either.
In conclusion, by watching this film it makes it possible for the viewer to go back in time for relive what many had to go through in the end World War Two. The director, Oliver Hirschbiegel did a tremendous job of making this film accurate and truly assisted the viewer into getting in Hitler’s frame of mind when he was going crazy and helped show what it would’ve been like to be close with him when he was going through this time. Overall Downfall was a disturbing but great depiction of Adolf Hitler’s final days.
Bibliography (APA Style)
Part 1:
Downfall Movie Review & Film Summary (2005) Roger Ebert
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/downfall-2005
Part 2:
Downfall by S.S. (2013)
Historyandfilms.blogspot.com.au
http://historyandfilms.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/downfall-by-ss.html
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