I recently watched this film, and thought it was excellent. The acting especially from Bruno Ganz, was superb and frighteningly accurate, but it was the whole atmosphere that really grabbed me. The sense of utter madness and surreality of the situation in the Fuhrerbunker was compelleing and chilling at the same time, and I had to keep reminding myself that what I was watching was the unfolding of real events and not some Dante-esque nightmare conjured up by someone's imagination! I liked the way that little odd remarks were inserted to help build up the characters, for instance Eva Braun's admission to Traudl Junge that she often kicked Hitler's dog because she hated him.
It helped watching the film to place it in the context of all the stuff I have been reading about the Eastern front, and gaining an insight into the mind of Hitler (as far as it is possibler to do that). The film really conveyed the fact that he had lost touch with reality. The tantrums of his conferences with his generals were superbly juxtaposed with the scenes of chaos raging above their heads. I found the scenes in the Berlin streets to be horrifyingly apocalyptic, and particularly the Geheime Feldpolizei (I presume) hanging people at random just for being there, and not fighting!
There has been some criticism, I have read from some quarters, which feels that the film portrayed certain characters as being 'too human', and yet I felt that this helped to put across a stronger message. To not portray them as "monsters" is more chilling, because it highlights the fact that it is human, not
in-human nature which is capable of such evil!
Excellent film! I need to watch it again, as I never take it all in from watching a film just once. I must admit, understanding a reasonable amount of German helped too, althought he subs were very good and accurate.
What do others think?
