Untergang, Der (2004)

Director:

Oliver Hirschbiegel

Writers:

Joachim Fest (book)
Traudl Junge (book) ...

Release Date:

16 septiembre 2004 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama | History | War

Frase comercial:

April 1945, a nation awaits its...

Plot:

Traudl Junge (Lara), the final secretary for Adolf Hitler (Ganz), tells of the Nazi dictator's final days in his Berlin bunker at the end of WWII.

Plot Keywords:

Dog | Dead Children | Nazi Soldier | Graphic Violence | Casualties

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 14 wins & 13 nominations

Comentarios de los usuarios:

The last days at the bunker

Cast

Bruno Ganz	...	Adolf Hitler
Alexandra Maria Lara	...	Traudl Junge
Corinna Harfouch	...	Magda Goebbels
Ulrich Matthes	...	Joseph Goebbels
Juliane Köhler	...	Eva Braun
Heino Ferch	...	Albert Speer
Christian Berkel	...	Prof. Dr. Ernst-Günter Schenck
Matthias Habich	...	Prof. Dr. Werner Haase
Thomas Kretschmann	...	SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Fegelein
Michael Mendl	...	General der Artillerie Helmuth Weidling
André Hennicke	...	SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke
Ulrich Noethen	...	Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler
Birgit Minichmayr	...	Gerda Christian
Rolf Kanies	...	General der Infanterie Hans Krebs
Justus von Dohnanyi	...	General der Infanterie Wilhelm Burgdorf

También conocida como:

Caduta - Gli ultimi giorni di Hitler, La (Italy)
Downfall (UK)
The Downfall (literal English title)
The Downfall: Hitler and the End of the Third Reich (USA)
Untergang - Hitler und das Ende des 3. Reichs, Der (Germany) (working title)
Caída, La (Argentina) (festival title) (Colombia) (Venezuela) [es]
Hundimiento, El (Spain) [es]

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, disturbing images and some nudity.

Duración:

156 min | 178 min (extended version)

País:

Germany | Italy | Austria

Idioma:

German | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sonido:

Dolby Digital

Clasificación:

Malaysia:18SG | Australia:MA | France:U (with warning) | Philippines:R-13 | Iceland:14 (original rating) | Italy:T | Taiwan:R-12 | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Argentina:16 | Brazil:16 | Finland:K-15 | Germany:12 (bw) | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:15A | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R13 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:NC-16 | Spain:18 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Bavaria Filmstudios, Geiselgasteig, Grünwald, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Constantin Film Produktion

Trivialidades:

Based on the books "Der Untergang" by historian Joachim Fest and "Bis zur letzten Stunde" by Traudl Junge, Hitler's last private secretary from 1942 to 1945.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the teletype prints the incoming message from Göring, his name and title appear at bottom left; but when the operator tears off the sheet, it appears at bottom right.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Traudl Junge: I've got the feeling that I should be angry with this child, this young and oblivious girl. Or that I'm not allowed to forgive her for not seeing the nature of that monster. That she didn't realise what she was doing. And mostly because I've gone so obliviously...

Movie Connections:

Edited from Im toten Winkel - Hitlers Sekretärin (2002)

Soundtrack:

Davon geht die Welt nicht unter

The last days at the bunker

This magnificent film goes where no one else dared to go to show us the last days of Adolf Hitler. The director, Oliver Hirshbiegel, working with a big cast, brings to life the madness of the last days of the monster, as observed by a young and impressionable secretary who witnessed most of the crisis.

At the beginning of the film we watch as five young women are brought to be interviewed by Hitler for a job as his personal secretary. Young Traudl Junge is selected. She is a pretty woman who is naive in many ways and probably had no inkling about the trip she was going to embark.

The film captures the tragic figure of Hitler as everything is caving in on him and his grand plans for victory. We watch a man at the beginning of the film that is still thinking he is in command of the German forces, but his authority has eroded, as it becomes clear to the people under him the war is lost and it will be a matter of time before they are defeated.

We watch the life of privilege the higher ups led inside the bunker. It was a fortification in which all comforts the regular Germans could not imagine existed. We get to know the people in Hitler's inner circle. The Goebbels, both Joseph and Magda, supporters of the regime, maintain the loyalty to the Fuhrer until the end. The scene where Magda Goebbels murders her children is hard to take and we keep sinking in our seats, as we can't believe such cruelty existed. In her narrow view of things, Magda must take her family with her to a death these children didn't deserve.

The film is totally dominated by Bruno Ganz. As Hitler, he makes us see this man as he probably was in real life. Mr. Ganz's uncanny resemblance with Hitler is what makes the film works the way it does. At times, Mr. Ganz is totally irrational, and at times, he is presented as a lost man who can't see what he has done to Germany and to Europe and the world.

As Traudl Junge, the young secretary, Alexandra Maria Lara gives a subtle performance. She saw plenty inside the bunker and lived to tell it to the world. The other excellent performance is given by Corinna Harfouch, who as Mrs. Goebbels makes us cringe in horror because of what she is capable of doing. Juliane Kohler, as Eva Braun, is an enigma. At times, she is presented as a carefree young woman who might have loved Hitler. Yet, we don't ever know what made this Eva Braun tick. Ulrich Matthes as Joseph Goebbels and Heino Ferch as Albert Speer are equally effective playing these two men.

The director and his team have to be congratulated for taking us on a voyage to see the last moments of the Third Reich.