The Downfall of the Reich/Hitler's Last Twelve Nights (Hong Kong)
External Name
The Downfall: Hitler and the End of the Third Reich
Other Translations
The Reich's Downfall
Basic Information Edit
The movie follows the last 12 days of Hitler's life, including the Soviet Red Army's capture of Berlin and Hitler's suicide in an underground bunker with his new wife, Eva Braun. For more than half a century, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler has been portrayed as a hysterical war monger, however, this movie breaks the taboo about this historical figure in Germany. Instead of the snarling demagogue, Hitler is portrayed as a soft-spoken "dreamer".Drama Editor
Stills from Destruction of the Reich (34)
As the first documentary film to portray Hitler "head-on" and the first film in German cinema to feature an actor playing Hitler, Destruction of the Reich provoked far more controversy than Fahrenheit 9/11 ever did. Fahrenheit 9/11" has created a wave of political attacks - Hitler is a god
The German film "The Destruction of the Reich" focuses on the last 12 days of Hitler's life.
None of the foreign-language films nominated for this year's Academy Awards has generated as much global controversy as "The Reich's Downfall". In this German film, Hitler, who was previously only a background character, becomes a main character for the first time.
The movie focuses on the last 12 days of Hitler's life, recreating such historical events as the Soviet Red Army's capture of Berlin and the suicide of Hitler and his new wife, Eva Braun, in an underground bunker. The film was directed by renowned German director Oliver Sisberg, and Hitler was portrayed by Bruno Gonz, a distinguished Swiss actor who appeared in the award-winning film Under the Dome of Berlin. The film made an impressive 30 million euros at the box office in Germany, but also provoked much criticism from critics. Audiences generally felt that "The Destruction of the Reich" portrayed Hitler in an overly humanized manner and glorified the Nazis, while a few film experts praised the sober and objective film, which was shot in a humanistic manner.
Stills
Director Oliver Sisberg said, "My movie is very controversial. As filmmakers, we showed the victims of that year not a devil, but a human being. I'm very proud of this movie." The film won the Bavarian Film Audience Award, one of Germany's top film honors.
A few days ago, the German film "The Destruction of the Reich," directed by Oliver Sisberg, began its French run. The movie theaters were packed, and the Parisian media continued to run a high fever, with people talking about the controversial film every day. After watching it while it was still hot, I believe it is one of the best films to reflect on Nazi crimes to date. The reason is that the movie reduces Hitler to an ordinary man, instead of making the so-called "devil" the scapegoat of the human conscience.
The film sparked controversy when it opened in Germany last September because it broke a taboo and "opened a Pandora's box of reappraisal of the Nazis" -- Sisberg reduced Hitler from a devil to a human being, to a man who "may evoke sympathy for people". "end-of-the-line hero who might arouse sympathy." Under the influence of the media frenzy, three million people were persuaded to go to the cinema in just one month. That month, the Hamburger Zeitung did a 17-page feature on the film; German historians at the 45th Congress even agreed to dedicate a day of debate to the film; and former German Chancellor Kohl said categorically that the movie was worth the price of admission, and hoped more people would see it.
Stills
"The Destruction of the Reich" was inspired by historian Joachim Feist's "The End of Hitler" (2002) and "Until the Last Hour," the memoirs of Hitler's last female secretary, Traudl Jünger (2002). Born in Munich in 1920, Jünger was chosen by Hitler as his private secretary at the age of 22. She served until Hitler's suicide and recorded Hitler's will, finally escaping from the bunker with a small detachment. What is disturbing to many is that in this typist's memory, Hitler was a cultured, respected leader who did things in a quiet way. When she made a typo or did something else wrong, Hitler was always forgiving. So, until Hitler's suicide, Jünger always had respect for him. The book also reveals that Hitler was a vegetarian, a man with a deep love for dogs. Before marrying his lover Eva Braun, he even kissed her in public. Hitler was more or less sentimental; he wouldn't let anyone put flowers in his office because they would wither and he didn't like to see dead things. The film takes a lot of material from Jünger's book to give Hitler an extremely human side.