Untergang, Der (2004)

Director:

Oliver Hirschbiegel

Writers:

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

Release Date:

16 September 2004 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama | History | War

Tagline:

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:

Political Criminal | Heavy Drinking | Megalomaniac | Dog | Nazi Soldier

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 14 wins & 13 nominations

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

Also Known As:

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)

MPAA:

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

Runtime:

156 min | 178 min (extended version)

Country:

Germany | Italy | Austria

Language:

German | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

France:U (with warning) | Philippines:R-13 | Italy:T | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Malaysia:18SG | Iceland:14 (original rating) | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Taiwan:R-12 | Australia:MA | 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

Trivia:

The button that Hitler removes from his jacket and gives to Magda Goebbels is the Gold Nazi Party badge, awarded to high-ranking party members who had constant membership from 1925. Hitler gave himself Badge No. 1 when he authorized it in 1933, even though he was not the first party member. The Soviets found the badge in the bunker and it was stored in a vault at the Lubyanka, the KGB headquarters. In 1996 the FSB, the Russian Federation successor to the KGB, revealed that it had the badge and in 2005 put it on display. On November 18, 2005, it was stolen in a brazen smash-and-grab raid. The burglar escaped even though he triggered the display alarms. As of August 2006, it had not yet been recovered.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When the drug for the Goebbels children is mixed, the Erlenmeyer flask is postwar as you can clearly see from the logo (Schott Mainz). The company moved there in 1951/2.

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:

Referenced in Erkan & Stefan in Der Tod kommt krass (2005)

Soundtrack:

When I Am Laid In Earth

this is the best....

Who better to make a WWII film than the Germans themselves? This is possibly the best WWII film I have seen yet. It is a very intense movie about the final days of Adolf Hitler (a SUPERB roll played by Bruno Ganz, he should get at least one Oscar for this...) which had me coming back to see the movie a second and even a third time (I saw T3 only twice, he he). And not only Bruno Ganz has done a great performance, the entire cast gives it all their best. Very good film indeed.

As I said, it's a film about Adolf Hitlers final days, trapped in a bunker in Berlin, while the Russians are slowly moving closer. Hitler losing his faith in a 'good' outcome, the final bullet, everything is has happened for real. But when I left the cinema I had the idea I had just been watching a fictional story. A perfect script, made in real life 59 years ago. Not much to say about anything else. If you are interested in WWII stuff, go see it in the cinema, it's worth every penny.