Downfall Movie

The movie Downfall, or Der Untergang, is a German film directed by Oliver Hirschiegel. Downfall tells the story, from Hitler’s private secretary’s standpoint, about the final days of Adolph Hitler leading to the eventual surrender of the Nazi Party. The movie was nominated and won several awards including being nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year in 2005. Foreign language films are interesting to watch especially when they tell a story about history. The reason why they are interesting to watch is because you learn about a different country’s perspective about a world event such as World War II, in the case of the movie Downfall. Usually when watching foreign language films that depict a certain moment in history, especially when it is directed specifically toward that country, the story often tends to place that country or its leaders on a pedestal. The citizens or rulers of a country may not find it appealing when their fellow citizens make a movie about that country’s history showing that their rulers are weak or bare weaknesses. This is not the case of the movie Downfall however. The writers and director made it a strong point to show how Hitler truly was during his final days. Adolph Hitler during his final days, according to the movie, was not the strong and fearless leader that his people though he was. He became very nervous and paranoid. He suspected everyone of treason and thought that all of his highest commanders failed him. Adolph Hitler, toward the end of the Third Reich, eventually committed suicide. The reason he committed suicide was because Hitler said he would rather die than surrender to the Russian army. This is rather an ironic act that Hitler committed considering the fact that suicide is considered a cowardly death in common society. The fact that Hitler killed himself shows a character flaw in his beliefs. It turns out that a lot of the young people that were involved with Nazi Germany did not even know