List Price: $14.94You Pay Only: $9.49 You Save: $5.45 (36%)Prices subject to change.
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Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9781404987609
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, NTSC
ISBN: 1404987606
Label: Sony Pictures
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Region Code: 99
Release Date: August 02, 2005
Running Time: 155 minutes
Sales Rank: 851
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: 2004
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
The riveting subject of Downfall is nothing less than the disintegration of Adolf Hitler in mind, body, and soul. A 2005 Academy Award nominee for best foreign language film, this German historical drama stars Bruno Ganz (Wings of Desire) as Hitler, whose psychic meltdown is depicted in sobering detail, suggesting a fallen, pathetic dictator on the verge on insanity, resorting to suicide (along with Eva Braun and Joseph and Magda Goebbels) as his Nazi empire burns amidst chaos in mid-1945. While staging most of the film in the claustrophobic bunker where Hitler spent his final days, director Oliver Hirschbiegel (Das Experiment) dares to show the gentler human side of der Fuehrer, as opposed to the pure embodiment of evil so familiar from many other Nazi-era dramas. This balanced portrayal does not inspire sympathy, however: We simply see the complexity of Hitler's character in the greater context of his inevitable downfall, and a more realistic (and therefore more horrifying) biographical portrait of madness on both epic and intimate scales. By ending with a chilling clip from the 2002 documentary Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary, this unforgettable film gains another dimension of sobering authenticity. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Amazing film despite the gloss.
This is one of the most enthralling and complex films about the fall of the 3rd Reich that I have ever seen. The clips of Traudl Junge were mesmerizing. The main complaint about the film is the gloss over the brutality of it all. For example, Monke was shown to be a much more compassionate character than in reality. Bruno Ganz' portrayal of Hitler was astounding. He received criticism for portraying Hitler as a human. Regardless of your opinion of Bruno's interpretation of the character, his portrayal was convincing. One of the most powerful performances was by Ulrich Matthes as Goebbels. What a cowardly, sinister creature. Matthes captured that inhumanity so well.
Rating: - DOWNFALL IS SHEER BRILLIANCE 9.25 OUT OF 10
It's hard to believe that the company that made this incredible film; Constantin Film; also made the excellent Resident Evil films and the not-so-great Fantastic Four movies (bleh). This war movie is absolutely fantastic and well-deserving of the many awards and critical acclaim it received.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: The year is 1945, and the Russians are closing in on Germany and the Third Reich. So the main leaders of the Third Reich; Adolph Hitler, Eva Braun, Joseph Goebbel along with his wife and children, and various employees and military leaders hide in a bunker to avoid capture from the Russians. The story is basically told from the point of view from Hitler's secretary Traudl Junge, who was in the bunker during the last days of the war and a witness to the downfall of the Third Reich and escaping from the Russians.
MUSIC: There's not much unfortunately, that's what makes this movie flawed.
STORYLINE: This story is well told about these historical events and is beautifully and masterfully carried out.
ENTERTAINMENT: This film is brilliant, and near-perfection. This is one of those movies you have to have real taste for, otherwise you might get bored. It definitely isn't for kids. What makes this film all the more authentic is that the film is in German giving the already amazing feel another injection of compelling drama. This is one of the best war dramas (and dramas in general) ever made, it's compelling, the acting is great, it feels very real, and it is a masterpiece.
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Rating: - A few interesting addenda to the fine lead reviews
This film alone makes worthwhile all the work it took to learn fluent German. The subtitles are probably about as good as what I could have done, but subtitles and dubbing never quite convey all that is in the original script language. "Sie werden ersaufen in ihrem eigenen Blut!" is translated as "They will drown in their own blood!" The script departed from the usual German word order that parks most verbs (after the first) on the end of the sentence, thus: "Sie werden in ihrem eigenen Blut ersaufen!" This might have been because it underscores Hitler's well-known mastery of squeezing every bit of feeling from his listeners -- he ends the sentence not with the three-syllable word for "drown" but with the potent monosyllable "BLOOD!" Hitler's gift for expression is also manifest in "Ersaufen" instead of the usual "ertrinken" for "drown." "Ersaufen" is a vulgar or less polite way of saying "ertrinken," akin to the better-known replacement of the more polite "essen" for "eat" with "fressen" to describe how animals eat, perhaps the equivalent of "gobble up" or "wolf down." Instead of "trinken" for "drink," "saufen" is more like "guzzle." German, in its agglutinative way, then tacks "er-" on the front to indicate that the action leads to death, so "ertrinken" means "drown" and "ersaufen" is to drown disgustingly or wretchedly. Of course, translators of movie scripts can't get sidetracked into such linguistic intricacy, so "They will drown in their own blood!" is the only reasonable subtitle here, ... Read More
Rating: - A Warning That Never Goes Out Of Style
Some people in Germany have accused this movie of attempting to "make harmless" the crimes of the Third Reich. This couldn't be further from the truth, and I'll explain why.
Bruno Ganz plays Hitler the man. Hitler the man who loves his dog, who is nice to his secretary, who loves his friends and spits at the people he thinks betray him, who tells those he cares about to save themselves even as he prepares to take cyanide, shoot himself, and then be burnt. This is a guy who, as long as he's not talking about the Jews or world domination, wouldn't be that hard to live with.
HOWEVER, this is still Hitler the monster. Being a vegetarian doesn't absolve him of being directly responsible for the deaths of millions or for throwing the entire world into war. Hitler the two-dimensional monster is inseparable from Hitler the three-dimensional man, and that is what this movie reminds us every time it makes you feel sorry for him even though you know, and the movie reminds you, that he was a monster.
All monsters in history--past, present, and future--were and are and will be human beings. We like to imagine Hitler as being some sort of inhuman monster, but he was only human. Far too human. That is why this movie makes people uncomfortable; it reminds them that any 'gee he seems like a nice fellow' leader of men could turn out to be a monster if the right questions are never asked or the ideas never challenged. The warning is an uncomfortable one: you cannot trust any ... Read More
Rating:  - All War,No Peace
I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be German. To rule the world and lose that position. Hitler, little do I know, did a lot of wrong things but he did a lot of right to lead men with enough armor in their hearts to fight the world. The Russians were kept at bay. Germany alone did everything and then there was "Der Untergang" ... Stunning storyline, sometimes or better known as history. Sigh. There's so much more to learn in life than how shoes lose their souls or soles, whichever you prefer.
I love the way the soldies, german soldiers, have an attitude of nonchalance as if nothing can possibly go wrong and they go about taking orders like they always have. So used to drudgening every possible enemy. I like that side of them. I like that side of humanity.
Downfall is a good film. I thought it would have ended when Hitler gives away. Rather than showing what happened to individual characters, if I was the director, I'd show what happened to the world than these few character names I would forget in a hurry.
I do not know German. I want to. Now.
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