Downfall () is a 2004 German historical war drama film written and produced by Bernd Eichinger and directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel. It depicts the final days of Adolf Hitler (portrayed by Bruno Ganz), during the Battle of Berlin in World War II, when Nazi Germany is on the verge of total defeat at the hands of the Allies. The cast includes Alexandra Maria Lara, Corinna Harfouch, Ulrich Matthes, Juliane Köhler, Heino Ferch, Christian Berkel, Alexander Held, Matthias Habich, and Thomas Kretschmann. The film is a German-Austrian-Italian co-production.
Principal photography took place from September to November 2003, on location in Berlin, Munich, and Saint Petersburg, Russia. As the film is set in and around the , Hirschbiegel used eyewitness accounts, survivors' memoirs, and other historical sources during production to reconstruct the look and atmosphere of 1940s Berlin. The screenplay was based on the books Inside Hitler's Bunker by historian Joachim Fest and Until the Final Hour by Traudl Junge, one of Hitler's secretaries, among other accounts of the period.
The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on 14 September 2004. It was controversial with audiences for showing a human side of Hitler and members of the Third Reich. It later received a wide theatrical release in Germany under its production company Constantin Film. The film Downfall was a critical and commercial success, with international acclaim for the cast's performances (especially Ganz's portrayal of Hitler), Hirschbiegel's direction, and Eichinger's screenplay. It was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 77th Academy Awards.
Plot
In November 1942, Adolf Hitler interviews young women for the position of personal secretary in the Wolf's Lair and chooses Traudl Junge.
On 20 April 1945, Hitler's 56th birthday, Berlin comes under fire from Red Army artillery, beginning the Battle of Berlin. Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, unable to persuade Hitler to flee Berlin, leaves to secretly negotiate with the Allies. SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Fegelein, Himmler's liaison officer and brother-in-law to Hitler's companion Eva Braun, is also unable to persuade Hitler to leave. SS doctor Obersturmbannführer Ernst-Günther Schenck remains in Berlin in defiance of Operation Clausewitz, granted permission to safeguard the health of the civilian population. The father of Hitler Youth member Peter Kranz, who has been conscripted to fight, tries to persuade him to desert but Peter denounces his father.
At a meeting in the , Hitler forbids the overwhelmed 9th Army to retreat, ordering Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner's units and Lieutenant General Walther Wenck's 12th Army to counter-attack. Hitler makes a rare foray out of the bunker to award Peter, who has destroyed two enemy tanks, the Iron Cross, hailing him as braver than his generals. Hitler then talks to armaments minister Albert Speer about his scorched-earth policy. Speer disagrees with the destruction of Germany's infrastructure, but Hitler believes the German people are weak and deserve death. Eva Braun holds a party in the Reich Chancellery, which is broken up by artillery fire, and refuses Fegelein's pleas to leave Berlin with him.
When General Helmuth Weidling learns he has been sentenced to death for allegedly moving his command post, he reports to the Führerbunker to clear himself. His action actually impresses Hitler, who promotes him commander of Berlin's defence. Weidling mutters that he would have rather the Führer carry out his death sentence instead.
When Hitler learns Steiner's weakened forces did not counter-attack as ordered, he launches into a furious tirade, denouncing his generals and for the first time openly acknowledges the war is lost. He promises to commit suicide rather than surrender or leave Berlin.
SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke asks Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels to stop sending inexperienced soldiers into the fighting, but Goebbels replies he has no sympathy and that the German people, who proved weaker than their enemies, deserve their fate. Hitler receives a message from Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, requesting state leadership for himself in the absence of Hitler's freedom of action. Hitler orders Göring's arrest for treason. Speer makes a final visit to the Führerbunker and admits he has defied the scorched earth order. Hitler, emotionally overcome by the betrayal, dismisses Speer without punishment and lets him leave Berlin.
Hitler learns of Himmler's secret negotiations with the Allies and orders his execution. SS physician Obergruppenführer Ernst-Robert Grawitz is refused permission by Hitler to leave Berlin. Fearing Soviet reprisal, he kills himself and his family with hand grenades. Hitler discovers Fegelein's plans to desert and has him executed despite Braun's pleas.
As conditions worsen in Berlin, Hitler hopes Wenck's 12th Army will turn the tide. Hitler dictates his last will and testament to Junge before marrying Braun in an early morning ceremony. When Hitler learns that the 12th Army is unable to save Berlin, he plans his suicide, testing the poison on his dog Blondi. After bidding farewell to his staff, and refusing a final plea by Magda Goebbels to escape, he comes to realises the war has been lost. Declaring his defeat, he retreats into his private room and fatally shoots himself in the head.
General Hans Krebs fails to negotiate a ceasefire with Red Army Colonel General Vasily Chuikov, who insists on Germany's unconditional surrender and the full Soviet takeover of Berlin. Goebbels poisons their six children with cyanide capsules before committing suicide. Krebs and Wilhelm Burgdorf also commit suicide before Weidling announces the unconditional surrender of German forces in Berlin. Peter, sole survivor of his unit, discovers that his parents were executed. The remaining occupants of the bunker attempt to break out from the city. German diplomat SS-Brigadeführer Walther Hewel commits suicide as well, despite Schenck's attempts to persuade him to live. Only Junge successfully escapes, joined by Peter. The two find an abandoned bicycle and escape Berlin.
On May 8, the German government, with Karl Dönitz as Chancellor and the capital moved to Flensburg, unconditionally surrendered to the Allied forces, marking the end of the war for Germany. The film concludes with documentary footage of an elderly Junge confessing that her youthful ignorance should have been no excuse for her involvement in the Nazi regime.
Cast
Nazi Party and German civilians
Wehrmacht
Schutzstaffel
Additional cast members in smaller roles include Julia Jentsch as Hannah Potrovsky, Alexander Slastin as Vasily Chuikov, Elena Dreyden as Inge Dombrowski, Norbert Heckner as Walter Wagner, Silke Nikowski as Frau Grawitz, Leopold von Buttlar as Sohn Grawitz, Veit Stübner as Tellermann, Boris Schwarzmann as Matvey Blanter, Vsevolod Tsurilo as Russian Adjutant, Vasily Reutov as Theodor von Dufving. The Goebbels children are portrayed by Alina Sokar (Helga), Charlotte Stoiber (Hilda), Gregory Borlein (Helmut), Julia Bauer (Hedda), Laura Borlein (Holde), and Amelie Menges (Heide).
Production Development Producer and screenwriter Bernd Eichinger wanted to make a film about Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party for twenty years but was, at first, discouraged after its enormity prevented him from doing so. Eichinger was inspired to begin the filmmaking process after reading Inside Hitler's Bunker: The Last Days of the Third Reich (2002) by historian Joachim Fest. Eichinger also based the film on the memoirs of Traudl Junge, one of Hitler's secretaries, called Until the Final Hour: Hitler's Last Secretary (2002). When writing the screenplay, he used the books Inside the Third Reich (1969), by Albert Speer, one of the highest-ranking Nazi officials to survive both the war and the Nuremberg trials; Hitler's Last Days: An Eye-Witness Account (1973), by Gerhard Boldt; Das Notlazarett unter der Reichskanzlei: Ein Arzt erlebt Hitlers Ende in Berlin (1995) by Ernst-Günther Schenck; and Soldat: Reflections of a German Soldier, 1936–1949 (1992) by Siegfried Knappe as references.
After completing the script for the film, Eichinger presented it to director Oliver Hirschbiegel. Though he was interested in exploring how the people of Germany "could have plumbed such depths", as a German, Hirschbiegel hesitated to take it as he "reacted to the idea of Nazism as a taboo". Hirschbiegel eventually agreed to helm the project, stating that he "noticed that it just wouldn't leave me in peace, and in my heart, before accepting the project, I knew that I had already opened myself up to it."
Downfall is the first German film to broach the subject of Hitler straight-on since The Last Ten Days (1955).
Casting When Bruno Ganz, who was Hirschbiegel's first choice for the role, was offered the role of Hitler, being sent the screenplay and Fest's book, he was reluctant to accept the part, and many of his friends advised against it, but he believed that the subject had "a fascinating side", and ultimately agreed to take the role. Ganz watched The Last Ten Days, in which Albin Skoda played Hitler, which convinced Ganz that it was really possible to play the dictator. Ganz studied the Hitler and Mannerheim recording for four months to properly mimic Hitler's conversational voice and Austrian dialect. Ganz came to the conclusion that Hitler had Parkinson's disease, noting his observation of Hitler's shaky body movements present in the newsreel Die Deutsche Wochenschau, and decided to visit a hospital to study patients with the disease. Ganz auditioned in the casting studio with makeup for half an hour and tested his voice for Hirschbiegel who was convinced by his performance.
Alexandra Maria Lara was cast as Traudl Junge; she was given Junge's book Until the Final Hour (2002), which she called her "personal treasure", to read during filming. Before she was cast, she had seen André Heller's documentary film Im toten Winkel which impressed her and influenced her perspective on Junge.
Filming and design
Principal photography lasted twelve weeks from September to November 2003, under the working title Sunset. The film is set mostly in and around the ; Hirschbiegel made an effort to accurately reconstruct the look and atmosphere of World War II through eyewitness accounts, survivors' memoirs, and other historical sources. Hirschbiegel filmed in the cities of Berlin, Munich, and Saint Petersburg, Russia, with a run-down industrial district along the Obvodny Canal used to portray the historical setting in Berlin. Hirschbiegel noted the depressing atmosphere surrounding the shoot, finding relief through listening to Johann Sebastian Bach's music. Alexandra Maria Lara also mentioned the depressing and intense atmosphere during filming. To lighten the mood, Lara's colleagues engaged in activities such as football, while Ganz tried to keep a happy mood by retiring during shooting breaks.
The film was produced on a budget. The bunker and Hitler's Wolf's Lair were constructed at Bavaria Studios in Munich by production designer Bernd Lepel. The damaged Reich Chancellery was depicted through the use of computer-generated imagery (CGI). Hirschbiegel decided to limit the use of CGI, props and sets so as not to make the set design look like that of a theatre production, explaining:
Themes