Death in the Bunker: The True Story of Hitler's Downfall

Adolf Hitler spent the last 10 days of his life in a fortified bunker beneath the Chancellery of the Reich before committing suicide on April 30, 1945. Although Hitler's end has been documented numerous times both in documentary and feature films (most recently in Downfall [VL-7/05]), this co-production of German and Canadian television companies offers an interesting examination of how Hitler's Thousand-Year-Reich shrank into a claustrophobic hole in which he frantically awaited the inevitable conclusion of his doomed reign. Interviews with those who were with him at the end, including his secretary Traudl Junge (who died in 2002) and his bodyguard Rochus Misch, offer insights into the mindset of the trapped dictator, while rare footage shot during his last days reveal a visibly beleaguered Hitler attempting to maintain bravado while his world slowly crashes around him. In the end, Hitler's rule concluded with a vitriolic last will and testament followed by a cowardly self-inflicted bullet wound. Death in the Bunker serves up a jolting reminder that the mighty inevitably fall, victims of their own hubristic madness, or simply taken down by a world that can no longer tolerate their cruel actions. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)