Downfall (film): Difference between revisions

{{work|wppage=Downfall (2004 film)}}

* [[Face Death with Dignity]]: Fegelein, dragged out of a woman's bed to be summarily executed by the SS, takes a moment to button up his tunic and give the Nazi salute before being shot<ref>the opposite of what the [[Real Life]] Fegelein, a bastard who betrayed his brother in law (the Führer) and tried to escape with a suitcase of stolen money and jewelleryjewelry, did when caught. He was shot on the spot because he was too drunk to be court-martialed</ref>.

** Magda GoebellsGoebbels kills her own children [[My Country, Right or Wrong|because of a political ideology]]. The film's portrayal differs from [[Real Life]]; a Soviet autopsy performed on Helga's body showed numerous large black and blue bruises, indicating that she may have woken up and struggled with her killer.

* [[Those Wacky Nazis]]: As [[Villain Protagonist|Villain Protagonists]]s.

* [[We Have Reserves]]: Subverted. They don't have reserves, but Hitler keeps trying to act like they do. It's the subject of the infamous rant. Something similar happens with the Volkssturm, officially the "national militia", but actually a desperate last-ditch attempt to throw outdated weapons into the hands of conscripted civilians and shove them at the front line on pain of execution. Since most youths and even boys had already been conscripted into the German Army, they were basically rounding up any old men they could find. Multiple scenes are devoted to depicting how civilians are randomly "conscripted" and within a matter of hours thrown at the Soviets, and those who try to run away are executed on sight by the SS. The civilians are then shown being massacred when they attempt to attack the Soviets due to lack of weapons, training and tactics. General Wilhelm Mohnke implores Goebbels that the Volkssturm, of which he's technically in command of, have no effect on the battle, to which Goebbels insists that thousands of militiamen can overcome the well-armed Soviets out of a fanatical belief in the "Final Victory". And when Mohnke insists that their deaths will be meaningless and fruitless, Goebbels [[Complete Monster|drops the charade and defiantly says he doesn't pity them,]] claiming it's ''their'' fault for following him.

* [[Windmill Political]]: The film is one of many works that take this view on the then-widely-believed fear of a global Jewish conspiracy; it was ultimately a total crackpot hoax and delusion, but Hitler and his followers honestly believed it -— making them [[Windmill Crusader|Windmill Crusaders]]s.

* [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity]]: [[Godwin's Law|A certain madman]] condemns the German people to death because, apparently, ''[[You Fail Logic Forever|they failed him]]''. He's convinced that [[The Cavalry|the day will be saved at any moment]] by what one underling refers to as "phantom divisions". He goes about appointing people to [[You Are in Command Now|key positions]] seemingly at random. He generally [[General Failure|makes many errors]]; for example, he even orders one general to be executed as a traitor, only to later call him a hero and reassign him to Berlin's faltering defense -- all in a span of literally like 40 seconds. (Then again, the execution order was due to a misunderstanding.)-- Generally, much of Hitler's breakdown seems to revolve around the fact that he utterly fails to recognize his own flaws, and turns his loathing of his own weaknesses at other people and their perceived (whether actual or imagined) weakness.

** This is truth in fiction of course, but Hitler's generals are such "yes men" they will never disobey him (Wilhelm Keitel's nickname was "Lakeitel", a pun on the German word for lackey). At best, some implore him to see reason, but refuse to outright turn on him. The most any of them ever does is when (the unseen) Felix Steiner refuses to launch a counterattack against surrounding Soviets... only because Hitler insisted he attack using imaginary units, and his remaining forces were (despite Hitler's crazed claims) in reality outnumbered ten to one.

** Even Joseph Goebbels -- Yes -Man among Hitler's Yes -Men -- has his fair share of private admissions of defeat, even as he seems to ''honestly believe'' everything Hitler says, knowing all too well that, as Hitler's right-hand man, getting out of Berlin alive is nigh-impossible.

* [[You Are in Command Now]]: On several occassionsoccasions Hitler randomly promotes officers to higher military positions. General Weidling is ordered to defend Berlin when he only came in to attest that he didn't move his command post and therefore shouldn't be executed. Ritter von Greim is an even better example however: he was also already a general, but when he makes it to the bunker he is put in command of the entire German air force (which is all but completely defunct by this point in time), and told that he has to rebuild it from the ground up. When Hitler starts claiming that he'll be able to give Greim a thousand jet aircraft on short notice, it's become obvious that reality and himhe don't see eye to eye anymore.

[[Category:Downfall (film)]]