It shouldn’t come as any surprise to anyone that Adolf Hitler was a human being. Indeed, this human depiction of history’s most infamous tyrant makes the man all the more terrifying. I would find it infinitely more comforting If it turned out Hitler was a space alien or possessed by demons. Downfall is a dramatic, quickly paced film, and Bruno Ganz took on the actor’s biggest nightmare role and performed it with panache and gravity, creating a mesmerizing presence that defined Hitler’s diabolical charisma. He is supported by a superb cast; two stand-outs is Ulrich Matthes’ Goebbels and Juliane Kohler’s Eva Braun, the two loyal-to-the-end anchors in Hitler’s life, and could be seen as living metaphors of Hitler’s best and worst sides of his personality.
An idle thought went through my mind as I hunkered down with Hitler on his last ten days. What would a Jewish person think of Downfall? What would a white supremacist/Neo-Nazi think? What about a German or Russian veteran who fought in the war? My conclusions are completely unfounded speculation, of course, but my gut instinct told me that these widely divergent perspectives would all approve of Downfall. The Jewish person would approve of Ganz’s portrayal of a sick, demented man falling to pieces. The Nazi would seen him as a tragic hero. The veterans would approve of the film’s grim authenticity and realism.
For me, the key to understanding the Hitler of Downfall is not dissecting his madness, but rather trying to understand why millions of people followed his lead. The most important part of this film is not Ganz’s remarkable performance, though he is certainly the glue that holds this difficult film together. It’s the fact that even as the world was collapsing around their ears, there were still Germans who loved Hitler dearly, and still believed in his supernatural powers and prophetic visions. I can’t think of a better definition and more damning depiction of the concept of faith.
Tags: Bruno Ganz, Downfall