Rating: R (strong violence, disturbing images and some nudity)
Length: 156 minutes

Widescreen 1.78:1 Color (Anamorphic)

GERMAN: Dolby Digital 5.1

English

This film, with the exception of the first 10 minutes or so, covers the last dozen days of the Third Reich. It doesn’t just focus on Hitler in his bunker up to his suicide but also on Berlin and the effects of the war up to the final surrender by the Germans.

I’ve read a number of books that cover this period, including "Inside the Third Reich" by Albert Speer, and the events in this movie, by all accounts, are very accurate. Unlike "The Bunker" starring Anthony Hopkins, this movie isn’t simply focused on a stark raving mad Hitler. It covers the rest of the people on this stage mostly through the eyes of Hitler’s young secretary and it does show that Hitler, despite everything he was responsible for, was actually human after all. The picture for this film is extremely sharp and, ironically, the outdoor scenes were actually shot in Russia .

Unless you are fluent in German, you will spend 2.5 hours reading English subtitles.

• Director Commentary
• The Making Of Downfall
• Cast & Crew Interviews

This film was not done to simply entertain so the number of people wanting to watch this will be limited to those that are either just interested in History or more specifically the events of the last couple weeks of WWII in Berlin . I found this film to be very engrossing, but then again I am a little weird and will watch just about anything that pertains to WWII; movie and documentary alike.

Christian Berkel - Prof. Dr. Ernst-Günter Schenck

[Black Book, Valkyrie]

Heino Ferch - Albert Speer

[Napoléon, Run Lola Run]

Bruno Ganz - Adolf Hitler

[The Boys from Brazil, Nosferatu: The Vampyre]

Matthias Habich - Prof. Dr. Werner Haase

[Enemy at the Gates]

André Hennicke - SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke

Corinna Harfouch - Magda Goebbels

Rolf Kanies - General der Infanterie Hans Krebs

Juliane Köhler - Eva Braun

Thomas Kretschmann - SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Fegelein

[Blade II, Immortal, King Kong (2005), The Pianist, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, U-571, Valkyrie, Wanted]

Alexandra Maria Lara - Traudl Junge

[Napoléon]

Ulrich Matthes - Joseph Goebbels

Michael Mendl - General der Artillerie Helmuth Weidling

Birgit Minichmayr - Gerda Christian

Ulrich Noethen - Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler

Justus von Dohnanyi - General der Infanterie Wilhelm Burgdorf