Downfall

For those not well-versed in the lore of Adolf Hitler's final days, the intimacy and bunker-mentality minutia of Downfall should make for truly engrossing cinema. A detailed, historically accurate, bravely matter-of-fact account, director Oliver Hirschbiegel's German epic features powerful performances and an eerie, vivid realization of both gray-walled claustrophobia and the terror of saturation bombing. The fantastic Bruno Ganz (Wings of Desire) plays Hitler with a broken kind of humanity that makes his evil more subtle (and all the more chilling), but while Hirschbiegel (Das Experiment) effectively portrays Nazi Germany's crumbling heart, bringing to life many infamous moments and historical figures, his film doesn't offer much in the way of new insight. The script seems more of a textbook play-by-play than an examination of impulses and psyches, and the storytelling is dependent upon beefing up the role of a sympathetic minor character--Hitler's young secretary, Traudl Junge (the film is based in part on Junge's autobiography, and she's well-played here by actress Alexandra Maria Lara). Ultimately, however, Junge's willful naiveté, loyalty, and affection for her Fuhrer makes her far less sympathetic than was clearly intended. Optional. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by director Oliver Hirschbiegel, a 59-minute “making-of” documentary, and several interviews with: author Melissa Muller (9 min.), co-star Bruno Ganz (6 min.), Hirschbiegel (5 min.), and co-stars Juliane Kohler (2 min.) and Alexandra Maria Lara (2 min.). Bottom line: a fine extras package for an ambitious if flawed film.] (R. Blackwelder)