Downfall

You knew I was going to end up seeing the source material for the "Hitler reacts" meme sooner or later. Downfall is a German film about a very specific and bittersweet time in German history: the Battle of Berlin, the bloodiest battle in world history and the end of World War II in Europe. No time is wasted on anything leading up to Hitler's final stand; the movie is solely about the downfall of Hitler, Berlin, and Nazi Germany, as its title suggests. Apparently, this movie broke a big German taboo by providing a sympathetic portrayal of Hitler. A minor fuss was made by critics who worried that a film with a sympathetic Hitler at its center would be perfect propaganda for various neo-Nazi movements. Personally, I don't see why. First of all, having watched the film I never really felt sympathy for Hitler as much as I did pity. It's not as if the film portrayed him as a loving and terribly misunderstood soul. There are scenes where Hitler enjoys good home-cooked meals and kisses his beloved pet dog, but I don't necessarily see that as an unfairly kind portrayal of the man. Because he was exactly that - a man. Given the recentness and tragic heft of World War II and the Holocaust, it's understandable why Hitler ranks atop the list of Western culture's all time most monstrous people. But at the end of the day, Hitler was a human being. He did horribly inhumane things and had very little value for other human beings, and one could argue that he was hardly "human" at all, but my point is that in a very literal sense he was a man and not a monster. He was a fleshy bag of blood and bones capable of having emotions and connecting to various things in various ways, just like all the rest of us. Now, secondly, the film doesn't spare you the details of Hitler's violent and inhumane side. He's got a short temper in the film, as anyone who has seen the aforementioned meme knows, and as he goes about Berlin in its final days he is ruthless toward his own civilians and refuses to surrender. He wants every last man, woman, and child in Berlin to die along with him for Nazi Germany, and how can any critic worry that a character like that is going to provoke new-found interest among viewers in the idea of totalitarian nationalism? But enough about Hitler. He ends up dying (suicide by headshot) almost an hour before the movie ends, and it's that final hour that may have gripped me the hardest. Their leader dead, their war clearly lost, all of the remaining members of the SS begin to kill themselves as well. Many kill their wives and children, too. Prior to watching this movie, I had never heard of the Goebbels family and the horrific way they met their end. Civilians all around the city try to flee only to be shot down by both the invading Russians and the Nazis themselves who treat the fleeing citizens like deserters. Even after Hitler is dead and gone, his horrible influence hangs over the entire city as his most fanatic followers try to ensure that there's nothing and nobody left for the Soviets to take once the city has fallen. A few Nazi officials recognize the folly of destroying themselves and their city, but most just turn their pistols on themselves and take the easy, "honorable" exit. The whole thing was pretty effective. As an American, I'm used to the fall of Berlin being the happy ending of my World War II movies and video games. And even here, the film doesn't treat the ending as if the wrong side won; I think most modern Germans, these film makers included, are pretty embarrassed about what their country became for a brief but vital period of time. This film's tone isn't "what a shame that we lost." It's "let's take a look at how ugly the ending was for us." After all, there are two sides to every story, and multiple points of view to consider for any event. History is written by the victors, as the saying goes, and it was a nice change of pace to see the Allies' happy ending from another point of view. Because even the Nazis had a point of view worth trying to see things from every now and again.