OT Film Downfall on soon CH4 UK

Indeed.

I shall be spending a few hours at Auschwitz on 15th March and expect to find it a moving and humbling experience.

Tim, having been to both Sachsenhausen and Buchenwald in the early 80’s I am sure that you will find it both movng and humbling.

Not only Germans Tim, but also the followers of people such as David Irving !!!

Indeed.

I shall be spending a few hours at Auschwitz on 15th March and expect to find it a moving and humbling experience.

I wonder how many German people have watched it and assumed it to be a piece of fiction.

Not only Germans Tim, but also the followers of people such as David Irving !!!

A quite extraodinary film. I found it very compelling viewing as it addressed a very sensitive subject without the usual Hollywood insensitivity.

The acting was first class as were the sets and effects. Apologies if it sounds crass, given the topic and individual but it was tastefully delivered.

There must have been much soul soul searching by the cast, crew and sponsors.

I wonder how many German people have watched it and assumed it to be a piece of fiction.

I gather that it’s up for an Oscar on Sunday, most unlikely to get one I reckon, hardly family fun.

Nominated at last year’s Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film.

Traudl Junge also featured in the 1970’s World at War TV series.

How often does Hollywood go for a ‘big name’ actor, who looks nothing like the real life character they’ve been chosen to play.

(cough!) Alec Baldwin (cough!) Pearl Harbor….

Some trivia for Downfall:

Bruno Ganz practiced Hitler’s unusual accent with the help of a young actor from Hitler’s area.

Bruno Ganz studied Parkinson’s patients in a Swiss hospital to prepare for his role as Hitler.

Also helping Bruno Ganz in preparing for the role was the unique, only known recording of Adolf Hitler when he held a private conversation with Field Marshal Gustaf Mannerheim of Finland (WWII ally of Germany against Soviet). Hitler unexpectedly showed up to congratulate Mannerheim on his 75th birthday on June 4, 1942. Finnish intelligence agents secretly made the recording in a train wagon (Hitler did not allow recordings nor photographs to be taken in private). Some 11 minutes of the recording feature relaxed, normal-tone talk in which Hitler generally describe his views about the war. His speech is “working class language” and his turns of phrase reflect the speaker’s educational shortcomings. One of two copies of the tape was discovered in 1992 and has since been studied by scientists and historians.

At the Palm Springs International Film Festival in January 2005, Bruno Ganz stated that, at first, he didn’t want the role of Adolf Hitler. After viewing the film Letzte Akt, Der (1955) and Albin Skoda’s portrayal of Hitler, however, Ganz realized the role could be played with some depth; he then accepted the part.

Karl Richter, a member of the German NPD (a national party which was almost banned by the Federal Constitutional Court and is a political refuge for skinheads and neo-nazis), managed to get into the movie via the normal way of being cast. He plays the part of Generalfeldmarschall Keitel’s Adjutant (assistant). He later expressed his pleasure and satisfaction when the casting crew asked him to try on the uniform, lift his right arm and shout “Heil Hitler.” The filmmakers did not know who he was and that he actually was quite experienced in performing the asked task.

The portrait Hitler is staring at in one scene is that of Frederick the Great.

The featured interview samples of real Traudl Junge are taken from the documentary “Blind Spot” recorded in April and July 2001. Due to serious health problems Junge wasn’t able to attend the film’s premiere on the 9th of February 2002. The premiere had been a great success and the camera man went to hospital to inform Junge whereupon she is said to have answered “My lifework is accomplished. Now I can release.” Just hours later she died aged 82 after a long fight against cancer.

Based on the books “Der Untergang” by historian Joachim Fest and “Bis zur letzten Stunde” by Traudl Junge, Hitler’s last private secretary from 1942 to 1945.

I thought it was well made, I never realised that Hanna Reitsch was such a vehement Nazi, as portrayed in the film.

I thought that the choice of actors, not only in mannerisms but looks as well, to play the various Nazi’s was superbly done. How often does Hollywood go for a ‘big name’ actor, who looks nothing like the real life character they’ve been chosen to play.

Hitlers last days “Downfall” on tonight CH4 21-00 UK 🙂

I thought it was an amazing film, depressed me to hell though, only critism, Goebbels was too tall, but the scene where the obnoxious Frau Goebbels murdered her kids nearly finished me off. I gather that it’s up for an Oscar on Sunday, most unlikely to get one I reckon, hardly family fun.

Malta Story repeats next week

Moggy