Downfall [Blu-ray]

This is a near flawless movie, well deserving of a wide audience. The fact that it is a German movie which required watching subtitles, may put some people off - but the reality is that the German actors give this much more resonance than any Hollywood version could have.

Much has been said about the fantastic performance of Bruno Ganz as Hitler. This is his movie, no doubt. It should also be mentioned, however, that all of the performances are so spot on that we are removed from a theatrical overview of events, and truly become part of life in the bunker. So many movies of this period show either the two dimensional Nazi bad guys and Hitler as a raving lunatic and nothing else, or a dispassionate overview of the tactics of the battle for Berlin. This movie achieves something rare - a real personal insight into the characters and how they informed the battle tactics and actions of individuals.

Our view into this world is through the young and naive private secretary Traudl Junge, who wrote one of the books on which the movie is based. Thus, historical accuracy is very high. But what we see is an insight into the humanity of Hitler - in one moment warm and compassionate, the next brutal and vulgar. We can understand through Ganz' portrayal the charisma the man must have had to attract such loyal devotion.

Do not be fooled into thinking that a movie about life in the bunker will be small scale low budget sets.. the movie ventures outside and we get glimpses of some terrible battle scenes. Those with DTS capability for surround sound will be richly rewarded. The scenes of a war ravaged Berlin are incredibly real - in fact, shot in Saint Petersburg.

Towards the end the scenes become more and more disturbing as the veneer of normality is stripped away as the war looms closer. Scenes of suicides and murders are truly disturbing - not least the scene where Magda Goebbels, having sworn her children should not survive in a world without National Socialism, calmly murders them in their sleep, one at a time, before calmly sitting down to a game of cards.

At once compelling in the drama of a city at war, and engrossing for its insight into characters normally cinema is too scared to show as humanity, this is perhaps one of the most insightful movies into the horror of National Socialism in WW II and the man who created it. The movie is bookended by the real Traudl Junge speaking in a 2001 documentary, adding an entirely appropriate coda to the movie showing its relevance to all of us.

Thoroughly and unreservedly recommended.

Having bought this as a spot purchase and knowing nothing about it beforehand, my wife and I watched it. To say we were surprised would be unfair but it was so much better than I could and would have imagined. The film focuses on the very end period of the war. Hitler, in his bunker with high ranking officers of the German army with his devoted secretary Traudl Junge. It is an astonishing piece of film. Bruno Ganz is superb as Adolf Hitler. His performance ranks as one of the best I have ever witnessed. It is simply breathtaking. I would recommend this film to anyone with an interest in the 2nd World War as this focus on the very last parts of the War is very well scripted and filmed. It is one of the best films in my extensive collection. Buy it and you will be buying a masterpiece.

I don't usually go in for watching foreign language films. Not because I dislike them, merely that living in the provinces mean we sadly don't get to see them up here! However, this had a limited run at a cinema in Birmingham and I was lucky enough to see it. This is a magnificent piece of film making.

Bruno Ganz in the lead role of Hitler is superb, capturing the very essence of the madness that was Hitler and the total self-delusion of the last days of the Third Reich. The contrast between his tenderness towards his secretaries and the complete disdain for the rest of the world is remarkable. Ganz acts out a very difficult role, but comes through with flying colours. The depiction of the secretary Traudl Junge is perhaps a little sentimentalised, but any film has to have some humanity. Perhaps she was blameless, perhaps not.

The films most chilling scene features the killing of the Goebbels children by their mother, played chillingly by Corinna Harfouch. This is particularly uncomfortable viewing.

The real reason that this film is so successful IS that it humanises the Nazis. One has a distinct respect and even sympathy with some of the characters. This is hard to take when we know what they accomplished and makes for very uncomfortable reflection. This is intelligent film-making and well worth giving over an evening for. Hitler and the end of the Reich have never been portrayed as well as this.