Führer's grim finale

Was Hitler man or monster? Downfall, the first post-war German film to put the Führer on the screen, suggests he was both. He was kindly and avuncular to the scared, excited women who applied to be his secretary, and a monster who, when told of the danger to Berlin's civilian population as the Russians advanced through the city, had no compunction in saying: "Let them die. They let me down."

Oliver Hirschbiegel's long subtitled film, covering the last 10 days of Hitler's life, is based on two main sources. Inside Hitler's Bunker by Joachim Fest provides most of the dramatis personae; more intimate is a memoir by Traudl Junge, a young secretary. She appeared in a fascinating documentary about her life and died the day after it was presented at the Berlin Festival two years ago.

No one can say Downfall isn't accurate. Bruno Ganz's remarkable performance as Hitler reverberates in the mind long after the credits roll. It is the portrait of a broken, sick and virtually useless commander of the Reich, at first unable to comprehend the enormity of the situationand finally railing against the generals, soldiers and civilians who had betrayed him by losing the war.

Not even Alec Guinness and Anthony Hopkins, two of the more distinguished artists who have tried their hand at the role, matched the sour malevolence, the petulant misery and the increasing physical and mental deterioration of the Swiss actor's shrivelled Hitler. This is a stunning piece of acting, carefully avoiding caricature, yet neither as sympathetic as some seem to think.

Only two films equal Hirschbiegel's study of what went on in the bunker. Hans-Jürgen Syberberg's almost Wagnerian Hitler: A Film from Germany, and the Russian Sokurov's eccentric but powerful Moloch. Downfall, unlike these essays, is realism through and through, relying on the words reported by those present in the bunker and on accurately simulating the bleak ruins of the German capital.

Corinna Harefouch plays the wife of Goebbels, Hitler's propagandist, calmly poisoning her children so that they wouldn't live in a world without the Führer; Juliane Kohler is the hopelessly uncomprehending Eva Braun, kicking Hitler's favoured dog under the table and complaining that all he can talk about is canines and vegetarian food.

Alexandra Maria Lara is the loyal but fearful Traudl Junge, watching tremulously as Himmler makes overtures to the enemy; pre-adolescent boys proudly accept the stooped and waxlike Führer's congratulations for fighting to the last.

The film can rightly be called an underground movie since the bulk of it takes place in the bare passageways of the stone and concrete bunker where Hitler finally commits suicide. This is a fear-inducing, gripping and honest film. It may not tell the whole story but it illustrates the terrible Nazi finale with solemn candour and no little skill.

Downfall
Cert: 15