David I Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 Go see the German made movie "Downfall". Nominated for Best Foriegn Film at the 2005 Academy Awards, it is a film about the last few days of the Third Reich. Centered in Berlin, it is not only a excellent "Bunker" movie (and I've seen'm all - Alec Guiness, Anthony Hopkins, etc.) it is an excellent view of the fighting for Berlin in 1945. The script pulls heavily from the personal memroirs of Hitler's secretaries (Frau Junge is a principle character in the film) and sets and characters are excellent. One of the better war movies I have seen in a while. DavidI 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doodlebug Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 Absolutely. I'm just waiting for it to open over here. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 Yep, saw it and liked it. I think the central aspect of the film is the question among Germans of "how did we let this happen", which of course is worth remembering in any society. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Der Kuenstler Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 Awesome movie - I was tempted to stay in the theatre to watch it twice. Lots of action above ground, too. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt Steiner Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 Hi Originally posted by Doodlebug: Absolutely. I'm just waiting for it to open over here. Looking forward to this one as well any idea of release date for UK cinemas ? Cheers 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doodlebug Posted March 29, 2005 Share Posted March 29, 2005 Originally posted by Gary Barr: Hi </font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Doodlebug: Absolutely. I'm just waiting for it to open over here. Looking forward to this one as well any idea of release date for UK cinemas ? Cheers </font> 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crinius Posted March 29, 2005 Share Posted March 29, 2005 Bruno Ganz is the best actor Ive ever seen. Hes amazing in playing Hitler. I found the scene quite devilish when Hitler gets the nervous breakdown in front of his Generals and confesses for the first time that the war is lost. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeatEtr Posted March 29, 2005 Share Posted March 29, 2005 Originally posted by Doodlebug: I think it might be due for release April 1st ( but don't hold me to that) Sounds like a April Fools day joke. I've heard great things about this movie for awhile now. Anybody have any idea when and if it will be in US theatres? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David I Posted March 29, 2005 Author Share Posted March 29, 2005 Meateater, It's at US theaters now. However you will have to find an "Art" Theater like the Landmarks. Where ever they show foriegn films, etc. in your neck of the woods in SC. DavidI 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeatEtr Posted March 29, 2005 Share Posted March 29, 2005 Thanks for the info David. I'll start looking around for it. Btw, while i was snooping around, i came across this site, which can help people find it in their area. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be playing close to my area as of yet. [ March 29, 2005, 04:37 PM: Message edited by: MeatEtr ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanok Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 Originally posted by MeatEtr: Thanks for the info David. I'll start looking around for it. Btw, while i was snooping around, i came across this site, which can help people find it in their area. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be playing close to my area as of yet. If you go to the site MeatEtr posted, there's a trailer and two clips to watche; about 4 1/2 minutes. It looks good. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Generaloberst Guderian Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 Its been playing in Pittsburgh, PA for about 2 weeks now, and in that time I've seen it twice. Its definately worth it, even if you do have to go a bit out of the way. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KG_Jag Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 It is a pleasant surprise that it is playing in at least two theaters in Austin. The movie is dark, intense and immersing. Do not go to see it, if you are depressed. Ganz does a great job as Hitler. The movie has few combat scenes. Instead it focuses on the people and events in and just outside Hitler's Berlin bunker in April 1945. It is most interesting that all the important characters [historical figures] were dead by the date the film was released in Germany. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ExplodingMonkey Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 How does it compair to Das Boot in terms of historical following and belivability? I personally find 'Boot' to be the best in these areas. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Thorne Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 Originally posted by ExplodingMonkey: How does it compair to Das Boot in terms of historical following and belivability? I personally find 'Boot' to be the best in these areas. If you have read Berlin the Downfall (Berlin 1945) by Anthony Beevor you might find this movie very much historical. I personally liked it and its look on things with the war as a horrifying backdrop of an end of an era. Few battlescenes but still very very intense movie. -LT 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeatEtr Posted April 2, 2005 Share Posted April 2, 2005 Originally posted by Larry Thorne: </font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by ExplodingMonkey: How does it compair to Das Boot in terms of historical following and belivability? I personally find 'Boot' to be the best in these areas. If you have read Berlin the Downfall (Berlin 1945) by Anthony Beevor you might find this movie very much historical. I personally liked it and its look on things with the war as a horrifying backdrop of an end of an era. Few battlescenes but still very very intense movie. -LT </font> 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ExplodingMonkey Posted April 3, 2005 Share Posted April 3, 2005 All I have of Beevor is Stalingrad, but I do have Ryan's The Last Battle (it's my only 'Last Days/Battle for Berlin' book. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heide Posted April 5, 2005 Share Posted April 5, 2005 Just saw it yesterday, excellent movie. Ironically, I had also just finished reading "The Fall of Berlin", but apparently a different version, by Anthony Read and David Fisher. Anyway, it was great to see the scenes and personalities brought to life, and with decent production qualities. They weren't long battle scenes, but still intense; and it was chilling to see the 12 year old boys and girls ready to die at the flak batteries. Ganz was fabulous, and I thought the Goebbels were both excellent as well. Weidling and Mohnke were well done, too. Overall there was a great feel of the impending doom and immenent... downfall... that awaited Berlin. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted April 5, 2005 Share Posted April 5, 2005 I thought it was good, but there is nothing new in this one. There are many characters that are never explained - Rochus Misch, for example. You kind of have to read O'Donnel's book THE BUNKER to understand a lot of what is going on. As a visual aid to some of the serious written treatments, I think the movie shines. Try here for a better understanding of German culture 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radetzky Posted April 5, 2005 Share Posted April 5, 2005 i think michael came right to the point here: the film is worth watching if you know the whole story anyway. most european historians condemned the film as beng too kind to the nazi elite, especially regarding speer and schenck. without any preparatory reading, the film might even be a dangerous thing to watch. for it doesn't try to argue with fascism; indeed, it comes close to underlining its appeal. showing the ss as brave and unbowing defenders of berlin, portraying infamous nazi war criminals as heroic saviours of the civilians (like the film does with schenck)etc i felt uneasy after leaving the theatre. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted April 5, 2005 Share Posted April 5, 2005 Originally posted by Radetzky: i think michael came right to the point here: the film is worth watching if you know the whole story anyway. most european historians condemned the film as beng too kind to the nazi elite, especially regarding speer and schenck. without any preparatory reading, the film might even be a dangerous thing to watch. for it doesn't try to argue with fascism; indeed, it comes close to underlining its appeal. showing the ss as brave and unbowing defenders of berlin, portraying infamous nazi war criminals as heroic saviours of the civilians (like the film does with schenck)etc i felt uneasy after leaving the theatre. Correct me if I'm wrong, but is the same Mohnke in the film - bravely and stalwartly defending Berlin - the same Mohnke whom in June 1944 was murdering unarmed Canadian prisoners of war in Normandy? Even by SS standards he was considered loopy. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radetzky Posted April 5, 2005 Share Posted April 5, 2005 that's him. believe it or not, this affair is no big deal in germany. i wonder if the canadians will accept this man being shown this way? if you're interested in the subject, take a look at http://grad.usask.ca/gateway/archive9.html. it's not new but summarizes the whole affair quite convincingly, i'd say. the author seems sensible and aware of what he's doing. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted April 5, 2005 Share Posted April 5, 2005 Originally posted by Radetzky: that's him. believe it or not, this affair is no big deal in germany. i wonder if the canadians will accept this man being shown this way? if you're interested in the subject, take a look at http://grad.usask.ca/gateway/archive9.html. it's not new but summarizes the whole affair quite convincingly, i'd say. the author seems sensible and aware of what he's doing. Good link, thanks. I just read CONDUCT UNBECOMING which included stuff about Meyer's trial, as well as documenting the murders. I've put up a partial list of the fallen on my own website, so the matter is of interest to me. I don't doubt that the matter is "little fish" (the phrase Meyer used to describe the Canadians) in Germany; placed against the panorama of the entire war, it was indeed a small matter to them. The Fallen Equally disturbing was the portrayal of Fegelein as handsome, loving and brave. Doubtless he was "all that" but what little I've read about his time as a combat commander in the Florian Geyer in the East leads me to think there was more to him than that... O'Donnel suggests in his book that instead of simply snorting cocaine (I was surprised to see that reference in the movie - did they really do that in Germany in the 1940s?) he was actually liasing with a "leak" in the German security apparatus, and was another reason he was shot. This may have been fantasy on O'Donnel's part as his book isn't footnoted. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radetzky Posted April 5, 2005 Share Posted April 5, 2005 michael i have to admit i never visited your websides before. that's a pity, bc they're very well done and contain a lot of good information. when talking about the last days of the hitler era, one should always consider the fact that after the attempt to kill the "leader" in the summer of '44, german security purged the few decent remaining officers and citizens. hitlers personal entourage consisted of true believers and any personal accounts of innocence given after the war are highly questionable and must be seen as attempts to disguise the truth. the staff and personnel of the bunker were checked over and over again by the gestapo, so that there should be no second try to kill the dictator. about the waffen-ss cavalry division "florian geyer" must be said : they were plain murderers. i'd like to recommend 2 books i read a while ago, they're collections of personal war accounts of german soldiers who served in the wehrmacht. i'm not sure if they have been translated into english. they've been published by rowohlt books(hamburg 1998) and piper books (munich 2004): http://www.piper.de/web/books/3492240321.html http://www.sokrates-digital.de/produktkatalog/RT60558.php if you can get a translation - a must read! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cannon-fodder Posted April 5, 2005 Share Posted April 5, 2005 Yeah I saw the film in the UK yesterday. It was very good. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.