{image1}Everybody seems to be talking about "The Downfall" these days and especially about Bruno Ganz's portrayal as Adolph Hitler.
Of course, we all know how it ends and, let's face it, at two-and-a-half hours long, you might enter the theater with some trepidation. But, rest assured, Ganz is marvelous and the film captures the unbearable tension that must have inhabited every cubic foot of the Nazi dictator's Berlin bunker during the final days of the Reich.
Whether or not you think the world needs another film about Hitler and the Nazis, however, is your decision and we'll accept any cogent argument on that point. While there are countless personal stories to be gleaned from films about the Holocaust, whether or not you want to devote 150 minutes of your life to another exploration of Hitler's mania and his love for dogs is up to you. No one here will judge you.
Having said that, director Oliver Hirschbiegel has delivered one of the most engaging films on World War II. Centering on Hitler's young Bavarian secretary Traudl Junge (Alexandra Maria Lara), Hirschbiegel paints a picture not only of Hitler and his fits of rage -- although there are plenty of those -- but also his personal relationships and the alternating feelings of betrayal and bravado, of rage and hopelessness, that plagued his final days.
But, boo hoo for poor Hitler. The film also makes it clear that many who invested their lives in following Hitler felt he betrayed them and their commitment by taking, what seemed to many, the easy way out.
And perhaps most powerfully made is Hirschbiegel's point that Hitler didn't -- at this point in his life, if ever -- seem to have even a passing interest in the well-being of the German people. Indeed, barely a few minutes have passed before the Fuhrer avers, "In a war like this there are no civilians," and expresses his disgust at the cowardly, ineffectual Germans -- civilian and military -- that have led him to disaster.
Ganz is appropriately terrifying in his rages and pathetic in his regret and hopelessness. Lara is bright-eyed and devoted. Juliane Kohler shines as the sassy and thoroughly out of control (in her orgiastic social life) Eva Braun. Heino Ferch renders a confident and ever-more-distant Albert Speer, who is quick to spot the regime's decline and to urge those around Hitler to jump ship.
Any film about the Nazis should contain more than a few off-handed references to the Holocaust and the Jews and Hirschbiegel doesn't deliver on that point; perhaps he would disagree. Junge, herself, does mention the Holocaust in the brief interview footage that bookends the film.
Regardless, his film is well-scripted, well-staged and beautifully performed. Certainly, any viewer will walk away with at least a few scenes that could have hit the editing room floor, but in the end "The Downfall" doesn't really feel too overlong.
"The Downfall" opens Friday, March 18 at Landmark's Oriental Theatre.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
