Downfall (film): Difference between revisions

[[File:downfall.jpg|frame]]

 

'''Adolf Hitler:''' "[[Establishing Character Moment|But that's what young men are for]]." }}

 

* [[Affably Evil]]: Hitler at times, though Himmler fits the trope better.

* [[Anti-Villain]]: Averted - see [[But Not Too Evil]]. Hitler is shown as a three-dimensional character, not just doing it [[For the Evulz]], but only to highlight the monstrous evil of the Third Reich. As [[Roger Ebert]] said of the movie:

* [[Ate His Gun]]: [[The Movie]].

** Just to be clear, this isn't just because the movie is about specifically Hitler's final ten days and suicide. While that is one of the bigger moments fitting this trope, throughout the ''entire movie'', as the Soviet army closes in on Berlin, characters are committing suicide every few minutes. Many characters sitting around in the bunker casually discuss the best method for committing suicide, very calmly as a means of maintaining emotional control over the situation. At a rough count, at least a dozen characters kill themselves throughout the movie. Ironically, of these only one minor character actually does this by firing the gun inside his mouth, most of the others shot themselves in the temple - historically, we know that Hitler couldn't have been literally placing the gun inside his mouth, because he was simultaneously biting down on a cyanide capsule.

* [[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 jewellery, did when caught. He was shot on the spot because he was too drunk to be court-martialed</ref>.

* [[Fate Worse Than Death]]: General Helmuth Weidling got a pint of this: Hitler orders his execution on assumption that he moved his command post to the west. After his attempt to solve the misunderstanding, Hitler was impressed and appointed him as commander of the defense of Berlin.

* [[Folk Hero]]: The picture Hitler looks at in one scene is [[wikipedia:Frederick II of Prussia|King Frederick II of Prussia]], who was an idol to him. King Frederick was also once saved by a last-minute turn of events, something Hitler hoped for himself.

* [[Foregone Conclusion]]: And they know it.

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

* [[Title Drop]]: At Hitler's birthday reception, when Fegelein and Himmler pleads he evacuate.

* [[Truth in Television]]: Mostly. The points where it fails to live up to history are usually the ''brightest'' parts of the film.

* [[Villainous Breakdown]]/[[Chewing the Scenery]]: