Downfall (film): Difference between revisions

It is primarily based on the memoirs of Traudl Junge, one of [[Adolf Hitler]]'s secretaries, and is one of the most accurate portrayals of the last, desperate days of the Third Reich and its effects on Hitler, his closest aides, and ordinary Germans, though the ending has been criticized for implying that little or no harm came to the surviving women in the bunker, as opposed to the widely promoted allegation that many of them were [[War Is Hell|raped or brutalized by the Soviet soldiers]].

 

 

 

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=== ''Downfall'' contains examples of: ===

* [[Book Ends]]: The movie begins and ends with excerpts from a video-interview with the real-life Traudl Junge, taken a matter of months before she died in 2002 (two years before ''Der Untegang'' was released).

* [[Braids of Action]]: The female [[Child Soldier]] operating the flak gun has long, blond, twin braids.

** Essentially, the film portrays Hitler much as he truly was: not a nameless, faceless force of unrelenting malevolence, but as a human being. A human being who is capable of displaying kindness to people he likes, but at the same time, genocidal hatred and paranoia towards other people, and who believed that complete cruelty and utter dominance was the way to victory.

* [[Child Soldiers]]: The Germans are so short of troops that they're using children. One particular scene has Hitler inspecting a line of kids and giving them medals.

** Subverted in one scene where a unit filled with supposedly hardcore die-hards make a big deal about the fact that they're all either going to die fighting or kill themselves to avoid dishonour. Moments later, a messenger soberly brings the news that the German High Command has surrendered and the war is over... and only one or two of them actually go through with it, the others just left stunned but with no apparent intention of killing themselves.

* [[Even Evil Has Loved Ones]]: A good chunk of the characters are the leaders and senior member of the Nazi party, they're also people with spouses and families.

* [[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.

{{quote| '''Weidling:''' "I'd have preferred to be shot!"}}

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

* [[Friend to All Children]]: Hitler, of all people, appears as this: The Goebbels' children are obviously fond of him.

* [[The Ghost]]: Steiner.

* [[Glasses Pull]]: In the infamous Hitler rant scene.

* [[Hey, It's That Guy!]]:

** Some in the western audience may notice that Rolf Kanies, who plays Hans Krebs (and is thus even in the infamous rant scene) also played an extremely blatant parody of George W. Bush in cult-favorite ''[[Lexx]]'' some years back. It's [[Hilarious in Hindsight|amusing]] to watch his scenes from ''Lexx'' again after this.

** Christian Berkel as Dr. Schenck. He was also in ''Valkyrie'' as von Quirnheim.

** Traudl Junge also appears in The Reader for a few small scenes; she's the daughter of the Jewish woman who survived the fire and is present during the court scenes later in the film.

* [[Historical Beauty Update]]: Compare the real [http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/133d/essays/images/JungePortrait.jpg Traudl Junge], with this [http://images.wikia.com/hitlerparody/images/e/e2/Traudl.jpg one].

* [[Historical Domain Character]]: All of the principal players except for the little boy pressed into combat with the Hitler Youth. He is shown as one of the child soldiers that Hitler comes out to greet on his birthday, but the real little boy that Hitler rather creepily caressed, one Alfred Czech, has no connection with the film character.

* [[Improperly Placed Firearms]]: Generally averted, though some German soldiers are seen carrying post-[[WW 2]] [[AKA-47|Soviet AK-47's instead of]] the STG44 (the first assault rifle). Somewhat justified since the two look alike and the movie was made on a shoestring budget.

* [[Infant Immortality]]: Averted. Around a dozen children die on-screen over the course of the film.

* [[It Got Worse]]: And worse... and worse... [[Serial Escalation|and worse]]...

* [[Kick the Dog]]: Blondi is forced to test Hitler's cyanide pills, to see if they worked. Eva Braun admits to kicking Blondi on occasion, because she doesn't like her, which ironically serves as a [[Pet the Dog]] moment for her as she bonds with Traudl.

** Magda Goebells 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.

** Ernst-Robert Grawitz commits suicide in his apartment during dinner with his wife and three children--by detonating a grenade and killing his family along with him. Also an example of [[Pater Familicide]].

* [[Pretty Little Headshots]]: They're less pretty than most, but still under-done.

* [[Refuge in Audacity]]: the Nazis didn't invent propaganda but they refined it to previously unseen levels, and even coined the term "Big Lie" (itself a variation of this trope), where the gullible populace believes in even the most absurd statements made by a trusted public figure. Simply put, people are used to hearing smaller, daily lies, particularly from politicians (e.g. "we will lower taxes by a few percentage points" or "rations will get slightly better soon"). In contrast, they won't question so audacious a lie such as "a giant communist conspiracy is trying to destroy Germany" or "we're about to win the war through a massive sneak attack". The "Big Lie" plays on people's sense of what is counter-intuitive. Early in the film, even Hitler honestly seems to believe that a massive pincer attack from the north and south, or at least a counterattack by Felix Steiner, can drive the Soviets out. The generals and SS officers know all too well that the war is lost, but what's truly frightening is that the majority of ground soldiers (particularly young ones), even quite late in the film, honestly believe Hitler's words that the war isn't yet lost... simply because they don't understand just how far off the deep end he went.

** The party scene in the bunker, where there's a palpable sense of dread and forced merriment, with people forcing smiles and continuing to dance and trying to act happy as the bombing gets louder and louder.

* [[Supervillain Lair]]: The genuine article, the Führerbunker.

* [[Tanks, But No Tanks]]: Despite the generally high levels of historical accuracy in uniforms and equipment, there is a scene that includes one very poor mock-up of a Tiger tank, which is quite jarring. Averted in the use of actual T-34/85s by the Soviets.

* [[This Cannot Be!]]