From: Scherrer, Tim (scherrert@missouri.edu)
Date: Mon May 23 2005 - 07:18:18 PDT
I went to see the film Downfall yesterday afternoon. Downfall is a
German made WWII film about the last days of the Reich in Berlin,
focusing on the Nazi leadership. The film has been flying under the
radar of a lot of people interested in military affairs because it is a
German film, and is mainly shown in independent film venues. I saw it
at Ragtag cinemacafe in Columbia.
It's been 25 years since I read The Bunker by James P. O'Donnell but the
story line ran fairly solid from my vague memories of the book. Not too
much over-dramatization, and it captured the craziness of a totalitarian
government collapsing. The portrayal of Hitler was very well done by
Bruno Ganz. Ganz wasn't exactly a double for Hitler but definitely
carried the character. The movie, 2.5 hours long, basically describes
the unraveling of the Nazi regime in an epic fashion.
As for the uniforms, I think everything I noticed was basically on
target. I did see an occasional SS guy wearing a Heer hat, but I think
most of the uniforms were pretty dead on. I am not familiar enough with
the whole senior Nazi and political uniform spectrum, so someone else is
better left commenting on that. As for the MVs, there were some in it,
to include kubels, staff cars, motorcycles, half tracks, and a cameo by
a tiger tank that was probably a prop. The Russians had a running T-34
versus the stationary Tiger. The tracks were clearly unmodified OT-10s
with the tops still in them, and this was a moment of disappointment,
but so many other things seemed right I can forgive for that. It's
better than M-3 tracks with Balkan crosses for sure. And yes it isn't
all about people talking to each other in the Bunker...there are battle
scenes that are pretty well done.
One issue I remember from the book was Speer made a halfhearted attempt
to knock out Hitler in the bunker using the air vent at the very end,
and this was not in the film. Perhaps this has been historically
discounted since The Bunker was published in 1979, or it was
intentionally left out of the film. That was the big question I had
when I left the theater, as well as why the desert khaki not cammo
halftracks in one night scene. Also look for the boom microphones in
the scene with the modern of the future Berlin...I had to chuckle.
It was worth the $8 I paid to see it. Ragtag does introductions to
their films by the owner, and he stated he was excited because he got to
get up this morning, read a newspaper, eat a burrito and show a film
about Hitler. The theater, which is an artsy venue, was to have a
discussion about the film afterwards, but everyone got up and left. I
guess there was nothing more to say about it. The film had said it all.
Tim A. Scherrer
MAJ, MI, USAR
Assistant Professor of Military Science
University of Missouri-Columbia
573-882-0640, fax 0461
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