'm

Just when you thought that no more joy could be wrung from the tidal
wave of Hitler films and documentaries, along comes this light-hearted
little film from German direktor Oliver Hirschbiegel. It caused a
mini-furor (fuhrer?) in Germany, as any depiction of "the Bad Time" is
largely forbidden and most Germans can only see dramatizations of the
Third Reich from foreign films.

Titled in English as "Downfall", the film depicts the last few weeks
of the Third Reich inside Hitler's Berlin bunker. Most of the film
occurs within the grim gray cement of the bunker, where Hitler fumes
about the failures of his generals as the Red Army closes in. Now
quite insane, he clutches desperately to the mistaken belief that he
can still scrape up a few scattered armies and punch a hole in the
Russian advance. His generals can do little more than raise eyebrows
and mutter in the hallways, each man (and woman) calculating the pro's
and cons of fleeing Berlin or committing suicide.

Of suicides there are plenty, which makes the film fully entertaining
for the tasteless crowd. Mausers to the temple...rifle shots to the
heart...cyanide capsules between the teeth - it's a veritable orgy of
plug pulling! Thrill to the self-inflicted head shots of high-ranking
Nazis. Stand and applaud as Himmler's wife sedates her six children,
then jams a cyanide capsule in each kid's cute lil' mouth. Bite your
nails in tension as you wonder which uniformed loser will decide to
"take a little walk outside". The boss wants the Earth scorched, and
orders are orders, after all.

Of course, no suicides were more climactic than Hitler and Eva's, and
while reviewers have lauded the film as a grim portrayal of the
humanity of Hitler, nowhere is this humanity more apparent than when
his limp corpse is carried outside, wrapped unceremoniously in a
simply military blanket. The happy newlyweds are set afire while
Goebbels and his henchmen give a final stiff-armed salute.

Adolf, baby, we hardly knew ya.

One point about the film yet unexpressed is the inverted gender roles.
The majority of the men in Hitler's circle are critical of Hitler's
demented orders and most of them bicker about whether the Fuhrer
should even be humored. The war is over, we're all ****ed. We should
either bug out or just kill ourselves. But the women? The women are
true ****in' blue. Every single one would follow Hitler to the very
Gates of Hell; he need only ask. In the last hours, it is the women
whose eyes still sparkle at mere mention of his name. Himmler's wife
declares repeatedly that she would rather see all her children die
than to grow up in a world without National Socialism. And she wasn't
****in' jokin', either.

Note to self: if you ever run for public office, hire only women.

If the film took place only in the bunker, it would likely read like a
sappy theatrical piece rather than a filmic exposition. So direktor
Hirschbiegel included plenty of very well-shot scenes of the Battle
for Berlin. We are treated to Hitler youth dutifully sniping at the
Russkies. We see the Reichstag converted to a pock-marked wreck. We
see the Reds come running in from all sides. We even see a hot young
True Believer babe in pigtails demand to be shot to death rather than
surrender.

In all, this film was a thoroughly delightful melange of despair,
murder and suicide. I recommend it highly.

Until next time, I'm Citizen Ted: At The Movies.

Bye bye!

- TR
(roll credits)

nitram wrote in
:

On Mon, 23 May 2005 18:02:04 GMT, Mary Pegg
wrote:

Citizen Ted wrote:

On Sun, 22 May 2005 11:57:01 +0200, nitram wrote:

"Spoiler" missing in the subject line?

Yeah, sorry. I ****ed that up. And I was *sober*, too. How
embarrassing...

So, err, how does the 2nd World War end, then?

You'll have to wait until you see the film.

SPOILER









scroll down






It's one of the few war films not full of Americans for some reason.
Anybody not knowing better would think the Russians had won the war.


That is because that is the way we allowed the war to end, with Patton
sitting idly by while the Red Army exacted "justice" on Berlin.

--
Joseph Coulter
Cruises and Vacations
http://www.josephcoulter.com/

On Mon, 23 May 2005 20:59:56 +0200, nitram wrote:

On Mon, 23 May 2005 18:02:04 GMT, Mary Pegg
wrote:

Citizen Ted wrote:

On Sun, 22 May 2005 11:57:01 +0200, nitram wrote:

"Spoiler" missing in the subject line?

Yeah, sorry. I ****ed that up. And I was *sober*, too. How
embarrassing...

So, err, how does the 2nd World War end, then?

You'll have to wait until you see the film.

SPOILER









scroll down






It's one of the few war films not full of Americans for some reason.
Anybody not knowing better would think the Russians had won the war.

I just watched it, and damn, it's very well done. Certainly feels
accurate enough, but I am sure there are plenty out there that will
disagree with the interpretation.
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

On Tue, 24 May 2005 10:20:06 +0200, nitram
wrote:

On Mon, 23 May 2005 23:48:08 +0100, "Keith W"
wrote:


"jcoulter" wrote in message
...
nitram wrote in


That is because that is the way we allowed the war to end, with Patton
sitting idly by while the Red Army exacted "justice" on Berlin.


And why would it have been in the interests of the USA to absorb
the level of casualties taking Berlin cost (400,000, 120,00 fatal)
to take territory that they'd have to withdraw from anyway since
the Elbe had been agreed as the demarcation point for post war
administration.

How would you explain to 1/2 million American families that their
sons/brothers had died or been injured to take territory
that was then handed to the Soviets ?

He'd have blamed Patton.

Who conveniently died shortly thereafter.

************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *