Downfall (2004)

R09/16/2004Drama, History, War2h 35m
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April 1945, a nation awaits its... Downfall

Overview

In April of 1945, Germany stands at the brink of defeat with the Russian Army closing in from the east and the Allied Expeditionary Force attacking from the west. In Berlin, capital of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler proclaims that Germany will still achieve victory and orders his generals and advisers to fight to the last man. When the end finally does come, and Hitler lies dead by his own hand, what is left of his military must find a way to end the killing that is the Battle of Berlin, and lay down their arms in surrender.

Top Billed Cast

  1. Cast 1

    Bruno Ganz

    Adolf Hitler

  2. Cast 1

    Alexandra Maria Lara

    Traudl Junge

  3. Cast 1

    Corinna Harfouch

    Magda Goebbels

  4. Cast 1

    Ulrich Matthes

    Joseph Goebbels

  5. Cast 1

    Juliane Köhler

    Eva Braun

  6. Cast 1

    Heino Ferch

    Albert Speer

  7. Cast 1

    Christian Berkel

    Prof. Dr. Ernst-Günter Schenck

  8. Cast 1

    Thomas Kretschmann

    SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Fegelein

  9. Cast 1

    Ulrich Noethen

    Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler

Though he might not much like the compliment, Bruno Ganz is superb as the Führer in this dramatisation of his last few days in Berlin. If you saw George Schaefer’s attempt at this, with Anthony Hopkins in the title role (1981) then you’ll already have the gist of what occurs, but this has an altogether less dramatic, more natural, feel to it. It helps, of course, that those of us watching know now just how precarious his situation was, but for him surrounded as he was by yes men, Ganz portrays a man who genuinely believes the war is there to win. None of his acolytes have the courage to tell h...