Thursday, November 27, 2008
UNDERGROUND
Today's film was the first half of
Der Untergang / The Downfall (2004)
with Bruno Ganz as Hitler in the final days of the Third Reich.
This is the film from which the hilarious 'tirade' clips have been made with the videographer's own subtitles. We have seen Hillary and a real estate flipper having conniptions at the end of their rope.
This film, though, is serious stuff and extremely well done.
Ganz is hypnotic.
We are in the bunker in the final days but also outside where all hell is breaking loose.
The thing is almost three hours long. Too much for me in one take. But it is riveting. I am quite impressed with how smoothly the story is told.
I have just quit reading the book "Hitler's Empire" which covers the entire period between 1938 to 1945 and a bit beyond.
It is a thorough historical account with new material imbedded. The latest.
This film cements together a lot of impressions from the book. One cannot read the history without wondering what he and it was like. What were the people close to him doing?
Here they are on parade. Mostly the lesser folk who get to talk about what is happening. The biggies are there too but they are not nearly as important as the ones who see or sense the reality and the inevitability of defeat.
