Downfall

[Deleted User]

Hello,
I highly recommend this movie for WW II movie fans. It's about Hitler's last few days in a Berlin bunker. It's based on the memories of a woman who was there. Bruno Ganz as Hitler is amazing! Also some tremendous low bass special effects throughout. Watch where the bass levels are set until you get used to the peak levels.
Enjoy, Ken

polkatese

Thanks for the recommendation, Ken. My local Blockbuster has 6 copies, and they were always checked out when I was there.

[Deleted User]

No problem, Polkatese, I'm a Netflix subscriber so I just put discs on a list and wait for them. The people who worked on the movie wanted it to be as real as possible. They made an effort to get the set as close as possible to the original, furniture, lamps, etc. It definately gives you the feeling of "being there". There are some scenes outside the bunker that were filmed in Eastern Europe using buildings of the same era. Very well filmed and acted. Ken

AUDIOSLAVE

agreed, a real good movie. Saw it over the weekend. Very realistic great acting.

kberg

Would you guys recommend this as a blind buy? Sounds like it to me - I've read some reviews - all excellent.

[Deleted User]

Hello Kberg,
It's a pretty unsettling kind of movie and definitely not for children, there's a scene that involves giving poison to several children that will rattle in your head for a long time. Uncle Adolph is definitely full tilt crazy and wants to do nothing to stop the killing of German civilians. Lots of other actors have played him (Anthony Hopkins?) but Bruno is amazing. There's a scene where he blames the loss of the war on the generals and the lack of will of the German soldier. He continues with his tirade and becomes more and more savage. You forget it's an actor, you really believe that's what probably happened.
I hope this is helpful. Ken

amulford

I'm getting it. Blind buy...

Demiurge

Bruno Ganz is actually one of the best film actors alive today, and yes, this includes the 'Hollywood' crowd.

polkatese

saw it last night, awesome! I can see Bruno to be in the same league as Nicholson and Pacino..

kberg

amulford wrote:

I'm getting it. Blind buy...

Just picked it up as a blind buy today as well, based on reviews and above comments. Will watch it tonight.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Just watched this myself. The scene with poisoning the kids is pretty rough. On the first pass where she's just giving them the stuff to make them sleep (which I thought was the poison when I first watched it), it wasn't so bad. But when she went back in there later and they had her going around to each kid, that was pretty intense.

A very good movie, but don't know if it's one I'd sit through many times...

gregure

I, too, thought this was a pretty amazing film. Despite Hitler's utter brutality and insanity, Ganz actually manages to drum up a bit of compassion for the monster; a pretty amazing feat. I almost feel that it is the film's ironic intent to try to find a somewhat compassionate view of Hitler's regime despite the fact that Hitler himself states in the film that his life's mission was to resist all compassion for lesser beings. Very insightful portrayal of the regime in its final days, and some truly awesome barrages of truly bass heavy bombing sequences.

Demiurge

This movie was awesome!