History Film / Downfall2004

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: Before the infamous [[WebVideo/HitlerRants Hitler Rant]], Krebs announces that the enemy has advanced to the East as far as the line Lichtenberg-Mahlsdorf-Karlshorst. Lichtenberg is between Mahlsdorf and Karlshorst.

* WeAreNotGoingThroughThatAgain: Whenever the high-ranking Nazis discuss the possibility of surrendering or fleeing Berlin, one of them will usually mention Germany's defeat in the First World War and swear they will not let it happen again.

Released by Creator/ConstantinFilm, it is primarily based on the memoirs of Gertraud "Traudl" Junge (Creator/AlexandraMariaLara), one of Hitler's secretaries, and is one of the most accurate portrayals of the last, desperate days of the Third Reich and its effects on the Führer, his closest aides, and ordinary Germans. Other POV characters in the film include Dr. Ernst-Günther Schenck, an SS doctor struggling to help the massive German casualties piling up as the Russians storm the city, and Peter Kranz, a small boy who has been turned into a {{Child Soldier|s}} with the Hitler Youth and sent to the front line.

''Downfall'' (German: ''Der Untergang'') is a 2004 German war drama film directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, recounting the last days of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany as [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the Red Army]] closes in on UsefulNotes/{{Berlin}}, when UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler (Creator/BrunoGanz) and the senior Nazi leadership that remained at his side, including Joseph Goebbels (Creator/UlrichMatthes), waited around to die.

* ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne: Non-comical example. During Hitler's infamous rant, his generals are too afraid to say anything contradicting Hitler's furious rebukes against everyone. The most that Burgdorf can muster up is that he cannot permit the Fuhrer to call the troops cowards.

** Blondi is depicted as being the only dog in the bunker, when there were actually several. Eva Braun had two Scottish Terriers and Blondi had given birth to a litter of puppies in March or early April. On top of that, the bunker's dog handler, Fritz Tornow, also had his own pet dog. All of these other dogs were shot.
* AlasPoorVillain: Astonishingly enough, while not downplaying or ignoring a single one of his crimes, the film - with the assistance of Bruno Ganz' incredible performance - manages to make Hitler himself, the ultimate symbol of human evil in Western civilization, into an oddly pitiable if not sympathetic figure, as the sheer folly and cruelty of his worldview [[VillainousBreakdown crashes down around him]]. This was highlighted by many critics and reviewers, several of whom questioned whether it was even [[SeriousBusiness morally acceptable]] to make a movie that depicted him in such a light.
-->'''Creator/RogerEbert, in his review:''' Admiration I did not feel. Sympathy I felt in the sense that [[CryForTheDevil I would feel it for a rabid dog]], while accepting that [[ShootTheDog it must be destroyed]].

* ApocalypseAnarchy: Numerous soldiers that are far enough from the ever closing frontline gleefully abandon their positions and get drunk and party away with [[ApatheticCitizens disconnected civilians]] while shells blast buildings into rubble and small arms fires echo through the streets. Another scene shows a couple slicing a piece of meat from a dead horse while the battle rages around them.

** In the extended cut, a Nazi brownshirt berates Peter's father for not joining the fight for Berlin. One of the hardened veterans takes a look at the brownshirt, laughs at him for [[{{hypocrite}} not following his own beliefs]], and forcibly takes him outside to join the battle.
* ArtisticLicenseChemistry: Near the end of the film Magda Goebbels drugs her children and then poisons them with cyanide capsules, which are shown to have a very quick effect; the children whimper and go limp practically a second after the capsule is cracked. In reality, death by cyanide - or really ''any'' poison administered orally - takes rather longer than a second or two, and as mentioned below, the children would have thrashed around before dying.[[note]][[AcceptableBreaksFromReality This is most likely to avoid the fact]] that, even when the DeathOfAChild is depicted, watching a young child's agonized death throes would probably be too much for an audience to bear - as well as the fact that obtaining a convincing performance of painful, drawn-out death from a child actor would run the risk of falling into serious {{Narm}}.[[/note]]

* AssholeVictim: Though the film plays itself as a tragedy, it doesn't offer much sympathy towards Hitler and his cronies as they are driven into despair by their impeding doom. If they die, it is often unceremonious and the dead Nazis are then promptly forgotten. Most notably, when Hitler finally kills himself, his death is heard offscreen and is immediately followed by an innocent gun joke from one of the Goebbels' children.

* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: One recurring question for the cast is how they plan to deal with the Reich's downfall: will they choose to flee, be taken prisoner by the Soviets, or will they commit suicide to save face and avoid imprisonment or trial and execution?

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: Fegelein denounces Hitler's high ranking generals' [[DirtyCoward cowardice]] for not telling the Führer the truth about the situation in Berlin, but while Hitler's generals know they are fighting a hopeless battle, they also know that telling him what's really going on will only get them dismissed at best and make the situation worse at worst.

* ButNotTooEvil: The film gives a balanced portrayal of Hitler as a human being, capable of displaying kindness and charm when around people and things he likes, but also cruel, petty, ineffectual and genocidally paranoid. Lest you get too much SympathyForTheDevil, one scene in particular has Hitler giving a speech expressing pride in the fact that he's killed so many millions of people and hopes that all of Germany perishes for failing him.

* ContrastMontage: Eva Braun's inner monologue narrates a letter she is typing to her family, calmly asking family members to redeem items and pay off debts at shops that have long since been destroyed, and that she hopes to send a care package with chocolate as well as some tobacco for her father. The almost cheerful narration of her letter is played over a montage of death and destruction as Berlin is blown to pieces, and under-equipped doctors perform amputations in overcrowded bomb shelters, and the Soviet Army overruns the German defences. Particularly harrowing is that during the part where she's absent-mindedly talking about sending some chocolate, a squad of ''child'' soldiers who are being overrun start ''turning their guns on their squadmates'' to save them from a more grisly death at the hands of the vengeful Soviets.

* DeadlyDistantFinale: The end explains how each of the characters lived their lives after the events of the movie, and how they died, if they did die.

* DestroyTheEvidence: Schenck is introduced as SS personnel are throwing out and destroying all documents. During Eva and Frau Goebbels' letter montage, Hitler makes his last trip to the surface to watch Linge and Günsche [[FieryCoverup burning documents by the folder]].
* TheDeterminator: The German soldiers, and several of the higher ranking officers in Hitler's circle. They genuinely believe that the final victory is coming, and when people tell them that it's hopeless, they practically accuse them of treason.
* DishonoredDead: Well, not on purpose, but it's not exactly very [[DueToTheDead dignified]] - Hitler and Braun's bodies are shoved in sacks, tossed in an unmarked ditch, and burned in a "memorial" ceremony that barely lasts five seconds before it's interrupted by Red Army artillery fire and Goebbels and a couple of random Nazi goons hastily return to the bunker.

** TruthInTelevision, as many hardcore Nazis killed themselves rather than face justice or revenge, or a world without National Socialism, or even a world where Jews, Roma and other minorities are considered anything but subhuman.
** Subverted in one scene where a unit filled with supposedly hardcore die-hards make a big deal about the fact that they're all either going to die fighting or kill themselves to avoid dishonour. Moments later, a messenger soberly brings the news that the German High Command has surrendered and the war is over... and only two of them actually go through with it, the others just left stunned but with no apparent intention of killing themselves.
* DueToTheDead: Subverted with Der Fuhrer himself. Once he and Eva Braun kill themselves, the bodies are hastily bundled up in burlap sacks, dragged out of the bunker, thrown in a ditch, doused in petrol and set on fire, while the "mourners" are too busy dodging Red Army artillery fire to actually pay their respects. In the ultimate insult to injury, the solemn Nazi salute that Goebbels leads lasts for about five seconds before it's interrupted by shells and they all scramble back inside the bunker.
* DwindlingParty: At the start of the film, the Third Reich in Berlin is at its highest (relatively-speaking) peak, with hundreds of Nazi officials gathered to celebrate Hitler's birthday, including members of Hitler's inner circle such as Hermann Göring, Heinrich Himmler and Albert Speer. But as the Battle of Berlin progresses, that number begins to dwindle as more and more Nazi officials disappear from the film, either by leaving Berlin or dying in battlegrounds. This symbolizes the downfall of Hitler himself, as his range of control goes from the Reich Chancellery to the claustrophobic Führerbunker.

** Burgdorf mentions early in the film that Nazi party bosses "make him sick". Later, he stands up to Hitler when Hitler insults the Germans soldiers during a rant.

** General Helmuth Weidling got a pint of this: Hitler orders his execution on the assumption that he moved his command post to the west. After his attempt to solve the misunderstanding, Hitler was impressed and appointed him as commander of the defense of Berlin.

** Burgdorf would not tolerate Hitler insulting or condemning the soldiers (who are dying) as cowards, traitors and failures. [[VillainousBreakdown For all the good it does.]] This is later subverted as Burgdorf is such a fanatical Nazi that he tries to kill anyone daring to surrender to the Soviets, preferring Germany to fight to the death than surrendering for the sake of the surviving soldiers.

** In the film, Hitler is polite and affectionate to those who remain with him in the Führerbunker as well as those who continue to fight for his doomed ambitions. However, as the film progresses, it increasingly becomes apparent that [[BitchInSheepsClothing his demeanor is a carefully calculated ruse]] designed [[TakingYouWithMe to seduce his subordinates into joining him in death]] out of guilt and/or a tragically misplaced sense of loyalty. It did backfire somewhat as some MoralGuardians did criticise the film for depicting Hitler as "too sympathetic".

* {{Foreshadowing}}: After Göring sends a telegram asking for permission to take control of the Reich -- while adding that if he doesn't hear back before the end of the day, he'll assume Hitler is incapacitated -- Hitler angrily shouts "How dare he declare me unable to act? Tomorrow, he might declare me dead!" before ordering Göring removed from office. The following day, Hitler actually does find himself being declared as "possibly dead", but this time by Himmler, in order for him to claim authority to negotiate with the Allies.
* FreakOut: The one that launched a thousand memes, when the Fuhrer learns that Felix Steiner didn't attempt to carry out his assault because he realised it would [[CurbStompBattle fail]]. You can practically feel [[ChewingTheScenery the spittle flying.]]
* FriendToAllChildren: Hitler, of all people, appears as this: The Goebbels' children are obviously fond of him. At the same time, he's also sending ChildSoldiers en masse to their deaths.

* AGlassInTheHand: When Speer confesses to Hitler that he has on numerous occasions ignored or even acted contrary to his orders, Hitler snaps a pencil in half in his hand [[SuppressedRage to avoid yet another outburst of rage]]. It's one of the few instances in the film where a reveal of disloyalty does ''not'' result in Hitler [[RageBreakingPoint bursting into a near-incoherent rage filled rant]], instead producing a SingleTear.
* GoryDiscretionShot: Hitler himself, along with Goebbels and his wife. Two generals, too. Oddly enough, we see a random {{mook}} suddenly shoot himself, yet ''then'' the camera stayed right on him. The director states in commentary that there's a specific reason for cutting away from the suicides of Hitler, Goebbels and his wife, as well as the two generals; they didn't deserve to have their final moment immortalized in film, even if it is just a recreation.

* HateSink: While Adolf Hitler himself is portrayed as a pitiful shell of a man, Reich Minister of Propaganda [[SycophanticServant Jospeh Goebbels]] embodies all of Hitler's evil with none of his delusional madness. A fanatical Nazi loyalist, Goebbels encourages Hitler's worst impulses and attacks anyone who dares question their Führer. He knowingly sends civilians to die in a futile attempt to stop the Soviets, and then admits he doesn't care because [[NeverMyFault he blames them]] for losing the war ([[InsaneTrollLogic by following the Nazis in the first place]]). And rather than accept surrender, Goebbels and his wife Magda [[OffingTheOffspring murder their children]] before killing themselves in one of the darkest scenes of the film.

** Dr. Ernst-Günther Schenck was involved in human experimentation upon concentration camp victims and was barred from practicing medicine in post-war West Germany. (Although in fairness his experiments were on vitamins and nutrition, and were less cruel than the experiments of other Nazi doctors.)
** The Red Army's seizure of Berlin is sanitized. The one instance of [[{{plunder}} pillage]] in the movie is comical, consisting of a platoon of female Soviet soldiers going through [[AssholeVictim Magda Goebbels]]' dresses. Constance Manziarly is merely stated to have "disappeared" after leaving the bunker, when in real life she was last seen being taken into an underground station by two Soviet soldiers and was never heard of again - it is commonly speculated that she was raped and murdered.

* HistoricalUglinessUpdate: While the film portrays the Nazis as human beings (albeit terrible human beings), some of the Nazi officials' looks are less glamorous than their real life counterparts:
** Joseph Goebbels has more pronounced VillainousCheekbones than his real-life counterpart, making him look more like a creepy, skeletal figure with soulless eyes.[[note]]Something the Youtube parodies often run with.[[/note]]
** Alfred Jodl depiction as a fairly overweight and bald general is at odds with his real-life counterpart, who still had hair on his sides and was rather quite thin. [[ZigZaggedTrope However, he lacks distinct wrinkles on his face, making him appear much younger than the real Jodl]].

* HistoricalVillainDowngrade: There are several individuals within Nazi Germany's military staff who, while known to have committed several atrocities during the war, have those crimes completely ignored in the film, and in some cases seem to get portrayed almost in a sympathetic manner. Hermann Fegelein is one such example, responsible of massacres of partisans in Yugoslavia, is at worst depicted as TheFriendNobodyLikes while futilely trying to convince others to escape Berlin, and leaving them behind when he fails. These depictions, however, are {{justified|Trope}} by the time this movie is set in - with the Nazis on the verge of defeat, those crimes had been mostly done for (and thus no longer relevant for them), and most of the leadership is instead focused on how to avoid capture by the Soviets.

* HomeGuard: The Volkssturm are this on paper. In practice they're under-trained conscripts who know next to nothing and die in droves doing things like running out in the open with no regard to cover.

* HookersAndBlow: When Fegelein is tracked down, he's found in a room, above an abandoned building used for [[ScrewTheWarWerePartying a wild party by soldiers and civilians]], with a nude woman, booze bottles, and several lines of cocaine on a nearby dresser.

* HopelessWar: That is the situation, with UsefulNotes/NaziGermany with its capital under direct siege with the Soviets relentlessly advancing through the city and Hitler's forces have no hope of stopping them. Nevertheless, the German Army continues to conduct operations right up until the very end; the generals attend meetings and briefings, they continue to issue orders to defending troops and plan ahead. The last time an officer reports to Hitler is when Mohnke is summoned on the day of Hitler's death. Mohnke plainly reports that the defending garrison will be able to hold for no more than twenty hours.

* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Should Bruno Ganz' powerful, deeply sincere performance evoke even the slightest bit of sympathy during the infamous breakdown scene, the movie quickly reminds you who you're watching moments later when he starts screaming about how [[ItsAllAboutMe the German people have betrayed him]] and how he hopes that his entire country drowns in their own blood for failing him.
* KickTheDog: Blondi is forced to test Hitler's cyanide pills, to see if they worked. Eva Braun admits to kicking Blondi on occasion, because she doesn't like her, which ironically serves as a PetTheDog moment for her as she bonds with Traudl.

* LaserGuidedKarma: Hitler is dining and elaborates about being TheSocialDarwinist, how compassion is an evil sin, to feel empathy for the weak is treason to nature, and how Hitler had always chosen the most reasonable path: to destroy the weak inside and outside Germany. Just then, he gets a report about Himmler surrendering to the allies. Himmler just went ScrewThisImOuttaHere and, ''reasonably'', [[IFightForTheStrongestSide is abandoning the weak (Hitler) to join the strong]]. Of course Hitler fails to see the irony and begins yet another VillainousBreakdown.

* LawOfConservationOfDetail: Historically, Traudl Humps married Hitler's servant Hans Hermann Junge in 1943; he later volunteered to go to the front and died, so that by the time the film takes place Traudl Junge was already a widow at 25. It may seem strange not to mention such a major life event that happened during the initial timeskip, which would have explained why her last name changes in the film, but in a movie packed with characters who take turns in the spotlight, the filmmakers seemingly judged her dead husband nonessential to the narrative.

** When they marry, Hitler is 56, Eva Braun is 33.

* NeverMyFault: As it becomes more and more obvious Germany is about to lose the war, Hitler blames just about everyone for it: first his generals, then the SS, then his inner circle, until finally he declares the entire German people lost because they were weak and deserved it. He never, ever blames himself. During his most famous rant, he claims that he personally conquered all of Europe, yet all his generals keep failing and betraying him. In short, he takes sole credit for all of Nazi Germany's successes, and blames all its failures on everyone but him.

* ObliviousGuiltSlinging: In their last meeting together, Hitler calls Himmler his "loyal Heinrich" when in fact Himmler is already making moves to betray him by attempting to broker a peace with the Allies behind the back of his leader.

** The look on Jodl, Keitel, Krebs, and Burgdorf's faces after Hitler is told Steiner couldn't get enough men, and Hitler excuses everyone but them. This comes before the iconic rant.

** The opening scene where Hitler [[NiceToTheWaiter plays the friendly uncle whilst interviewing a nervous group of women for a new secretary]]. At one point, he literally pets his dog, Blondi, before testing Traudl's abilities as a secretary.

* PhotofloodLighting: The Fuhrerbunker is lit entirely with photo floods.

** One scene during the ContrastMontage shows a despairing teenaged officer shooting himself in the head after [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone he fulfills a female comrade's request to be shot rather than be captured, raped, and tortured]]. There's zero blood which, along with the scene having no audio (Eva's narration plays over it), somehow makes it ''more'' disturbing.

** In the extended cut, after taking a walk outside, Eva asks Hitler if he will buy the figure in the Chancellery garden once they've won. Hitler responds that he has no idea who actually owns it, and if it is state property, then it cannot be in a private garden. Eva then says that, as the man who managed to defeat the Soviets in Berlin, he will be able to amend the law to however he wishes. Hitler then smiles and rolls his eyes at this "Logik der Frauen."

** This movie was heavily researched. Much of the framing is taken from contemporary photographs and newsreels--one of the movie posters is basically a staged version of the very last picture ever taken of Adolf Hitler. The Hitler rant that became an infamous Internet meme is presented in this movie as it basically happened, with Hitler screaming at his subordinates, telling them he should have purged them like Stalin did to the Soviet general staff[[note]] Ironically, one of the biggest reason that the Nazi Germany were able to have many victories during the early years of the Eastern Front was because of Stalin's purge, where many including USSR's best generals were killed.[[/note]], and finally admitting that the war was lost and that he would kill himself in Berlin.
** Bruno Ganz (who is Swiss) went through a lot of effort and study to accurately imitate Hitler's mannerisms and speech patterns, including his distinct Austrian accent that is slightly difficult for native Germans to pull off convincingly. Ask any German-speaker, he nails it.

* SimpleScoreOfSadness: The entire music score is all done in a somber tone to remind the audience that from the German perspective, there was no joy or celebration in Hitler's downfall.
* SoundOnlyDeath: The suicides of Hitler and Eva Braun, the Goebbels couple and some other Nazi bigwigs.

* SurroundedByIdiots: Discussed by Hitler. It's half-true, in the sense that no-one is doing what he tells them, but that's because they all know it has no chance of turning the war around even as they continue to respect his leadership. In other words, the reason he's surrounded by idiots is ''him''.
-->'''Hitler''': Unbelievable! Unbelievable! The Russians are 12 kilometres from the city center and no-one told me. I had to ask!

** Hitler brushes off Himmler's plea to engage negotiations with the Western Allies, saying that Himmler will "have plenty of politics to do" when he's dead. Later, Himmler is negotiating a peace treaty with the Allies and claims that Hitler is now dead.

** Several Volkssturm members are executed for cowardice by a man wearing a Bavarian hat (with a feather), who leads a goon squad. It is ambigious whether they were actually Volkssturm or just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
** Near the end of the film, [[spoiler: Peter sees the Bavarian hat man coming out of his apartment building, and when he enters his home, his mother was shot in the head, and his father was hung from the middle of the living room.]]

--->'''Krebs:''' The enemy has broken through along a wide front. They've taken Zossen to the south, and are advancing to Stahnsdorf. They're now on the northern outskirts between Frohnau and Pankow. They've reached Lichtenberg, Mahlsdorf and Karlshorst to the east.\\

''[Hitler is stunned; after a few seconds, he removes his glasses slowly, his hand trembling from Parkinson's Disease]''[[note]] Whether Hitler actually had Parkinson's Disease is not certain, but Ganz believed he did, and incorporated the tremors it would have caused into his performance.[[/note]]\\

* VillainProtagonist: It's a film centered on the last ten days of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi inner hierarchy. Technically, almost every character in the film is either a Nazi or supporter of their regime. Some of the characters are treated sympathetically, such as Hitler's secretaries, Albert Speer, Dr. Schenck, General Mohnke, and General Weidling. This is largely because their remaining capacity for rational thought and human emotion stands in stark contrast to how far off the deep end Hitler went. Mohnke and Weidling are the only generals that outright express concern to Hitler about the fate of the German civilians in Berlin. Mohnke is on the front lines alongside his troops, pointing out to Goebbels that the "Volkssturm" conscripts are being slaughtered. Weidling outright pleads with Hitler to abandon Berlin. After most of the other Nazi leaders commit suicide or flee, more or less on his own initiative Weidling crosses the lines to unconditionally surrender Berlin to the Soviets, rather than let the pointless fighting continue.

* WarIsHell: The Battle of Berlin is seen from the German perspective (aka the losing side) and it's an apocalyptic nightmare. The Red Army is relentless, continuously shelling the buildings into fiery ruins and pushing deeper into the center of Berlin with every passing hour. The German defenses has been reduced to young children and old men with poor equipments, dying senselessly against the enemy in already lost battle. And if that's not bad enough, [[ScyllaAndCharybdis fanatical Nazis are prowling on the streets, killing any German who doesn't fight the Soviets]]. And all of this is due to Hitler's refusal to retreat or surrender.

* WeaponsUnderstudies: Peter's Hitler Youth group man a Soviet-made 85mm M1939 (52-K) anti-air cannon. It is likely meant to represent the German 88mm Flak, but can be justified as them using captured equipment because they are so short on weapons, which is a rarity for this trope.

** After his VillainousBreakdown, Hitler gives his generals permission to do whatever they want as he sulks over his impending defeat. Although they criticize Hitler's plans behind his back, the generals do nothing with this rare opportunity. Instead, they just wait until their dear leader recovers from his breakdown and starts giving them impossible orders again, not willing to take responsibility for the fate of the Germans. It's such a cowardice moment that Fegelein calls them out for being stupid and spineless.

->''"Of course the horrors, of which I heard in connection of the Nuremberg trials, the fate of the six million Jews, their killing and those of many others who represented different races and creeds, shocked me greatly, but at that time [[AMillionIsAStatistic I could not see any connection between these things and my own past]]. I was only happy that I had not personally been guilty of these things and that I had not been aware of the scale of these things. However, one day I walked past a plaque that on the Franz-Joseph Straße (in Munich), on the wall in memory of Sophie Scholl. I could see that she had been born the same year as I, and that she had been executed the same year when I entered into Hitler's service. And at that moment I really realized that it was no excuse that I had been so young. I could perhaps have tried to find out about things."''

* ViewersAreGeniuses: Some characters/moments occur without any exposition to help a viewer know what they mean. An SS doctor shows up in the bunker and begs Hitler's permission to leave, which is denied, and he later commits suicide with a pair of grenades. All we learn of him is his panicky words "If the Russians find me...", and Hitler's answer that "You did nothing wrong." That's Dr. Ernst-Robert Grawitz, one of the worst of the worst of the Nazi doctors, who organized both the experimentation on human beings and the T-4 "euthanasia" program (the murder of the disabled and mentally ill).

* HistoricalVillainDowngrade: Fegelein was responsible for several atrocities fighting partisans in Yugoslavia and was an unrepentant Nazi. He was also extremely corrupt, even by the standards of the SS. Here he is still not a nice man, with his infamous reputation being implied by generals' disgust of him, but portrayed slightly sympathetically.

* WrongGenreSavvy: All of the Nazis in general but Hitler most of all. For the first half, he keeps delusionally insisting that a last-minute counter-attack (from units that no longer exist) is going to miraculously turn back the Soviets. He insists that it's going to be the biggest reversal in military history (more than ''Stalingrad'' was), and his secretaries actually believe him, not realizing he has lost touch with reality. In Hitler's mind, the Nazis are the plucky heroes on the side of good and righteousness who are always saved at the last minute by divine favor: he's wrong. After he finally admits that the war is lost, he thinks this is all a tragedy with the Nazi leadership as the poor victims of everything that happened.\\\
In real life, the OSS psychology report on Hitler made a very insightful observation about him: he mentally processed his entire life on the model of a Wagner play, with himself as the main character. He perceived himself as the star of his own movie — as if to say "this siege is a challenge but we're just at the climax of the movie, right before the hero yanks victory out of the jaws of defeat, damn the odds". When real life got in the way, Hitler just couldn't mentally process it (the psych report even accurately predicted that when the war stopped going according to Hitler's "narrative", he would withdraw into his bunker, unable to come to grips with it). The psych report also accurately predicted what Hitler ''attempts'' to do in the movie: order Speer to burn down all of German infrastructure, even though the war is ending and this would serve no point except to spite the winners. As the psych report said, Hitler would eventually shift from thinking he was in a Wagnerian epic to a Wagnerian ''tragedy'', the kind where the hero loses at the end and his entire castle burns down around him like a funeral pyre to the gods. He then did everything he could to ensure that as many Germans went down with him as possible in a blaze of glory, as he perceived it - which ended up meaning sending child soldiers to their deaths, and to be a modern-day Nero.

** When they marry, Hitler is 64, Eva Braun is 33.

''Downfall'' (German: ''Der Untergang'') is a 2004 German war drama film recounting the last days of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany as [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the Red Army]] closes in on UsefulNotes/{{Berlin}}, when UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler (Creator/BrunoGanz) and the senior Nazi leadership that remained at his side, including Joseph Goebbels (Creator/UlrichMatthes), waited around to die.

** Several Volkssturm members are executed for cowardice by a man wearing a Bavarian hat (with a feather), who leads a goon squad.

* {{Oktoberfest}}: Eva Braun and at least one extra wearing a traditional Bavarian costume in Prussian Berlin.

Released by Creator/ConstantinFilm, it is primarily based on the memoirs of Gertraud "Traudl" Junge (Creator/AlexandraMariaLara), one of Hitler's secretaries, and is one of the most accurate portrayals of the last, desperate days of the Third Reich and its effects on the Führer, his closest aides, and ordinary Germans. Other POV characters in the film include Dr. Ernst-Günther Schenck, an SS doctor struggling to help the massive German casualties piling up as the Russians storm the city, and Peter Kranz, a small boy who has been turned into a ChildSoldier with the Hitler Youth and sent to the front line.

-->--'''Adolf Hitler'''

''Downfall'' (German: ''Der Untergang'') is a dramatic film from 2004 recounting the last days of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany as [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the Red Army]] closes in on UsefulNotes/{{Berlin}}, when UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler (Creator/BrunoGanz) and the senior Nazi leadership that remained at his side, including Joseph Goebbels (Creator/UlrichMatthes), waited around to die.

It is primarily based on the memoirs of Gertraud "Traudl" Junge (Creator/AlexandraMariaLara), one of Hitler's secretaries, and is one of the most accurate portrayals of the last, desperate days of the Third Reich and its effects on the Führer, his closest aides, and ordinary Germans. Other POV characters in the film include Dr. Ernst-Günther Schenck, an SS doctor struggling to help the massive German casualties piling up as the Russians storm the city, and Peter Kranz, a small boy who has been turned into a ChildSoldier with the Hitler Youth and sent to the front line.

** This movie was heavily researched. Much of the framing is taken from contemporary photographs and newsreels--one of the movie posters is basically a staged version of the very last picture ever taken of Adolf Hitler. The Hitler rant that became an infamous Internet meme is presented in this movie as it basically happened, with Hitler screaming at his subordinates, telling them he should have purged them like Stalin did to the Soviet general staff, and finally admitting that the war was lost and that he would kill himself in Berlin.

* SurroundedByIdiots: Discussed by Hitler. It's half-true, in the sense that no-one is doing what he tells them, but that's because they all know it has no chance of turning the war around. So, in a sense, it's inverted - an unhinged, broken failure surrounded by [[OnlySaneMan sane men]].

** German field commanders and generals in the Battle of Berlin are willing to fight to the bitter end for Hitler's fanatical vision. But most, if not all, are not willing to send civilians to their deaths in a futile hope for victory. Weidling in particular calls for a ceasefire surrender shortly after Hitler dies, and doesn't hesitate to portray Hitler as a cowardly backstabber to his own people.

--->'''Weidling:''' "I'd have preferred to be shot!"

** Weidling, who surrenders after Hitler's death and tells German soldiers to lay down their weapons because Hitler has abandoned them, is a more straightforward example of this trope.

* FrontlineGeneral: While Hitler and his military advisors hide in the bunker, General Helmuth Weidling and Brigadier General Wilhelm Mohnke risk their lives organizing the defense of Berlin and minimizing the civilian casualties. There's also Felix Steiner and Walther Wenck of the Army Group and 12th Army respectively, [[TheGhost but they're only mentioned]].

* HopelessWar: That is the situation, with UsefulNotes/NaziGermany with its capital under direct siege with the Soviets relentlessly advancing through the city and Hitler's forces have no hope of stopping them.

** The reaction of the German officers when they learn Hitler has committed suicide.

** Hitler's inner staff share looks of concern and dread right before they're forced to tell him about Steiner's inability to counterattack. They share further looks of dread as everyone else, on Hitler's orders, evacuates the room. Hitler then launches into his longest, most vitriolic rant of the entire film.

''Downfall'' (German: ''Der Untergang'') is a dramatic film from 2004 recounting the last days of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany as [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the Red Army closes in]] on UsefulNotes/{{Berlin}}, when UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler (Creator/BrunoGanz) and the senior Nazi leadership that remained at his side, including Joseph Goebbels (Creator/UlrichMatthes), waited around to die.

The film is also known as the source of all those ''WebVideo/HitlerRants'' videos, wherein the [[GagSub subtitles are edited]] to satirize all kinds of usually trivial topics. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBWmkwaTQ0k The scene]] that is used for most of the Hitler Rants is actually a Hitler freakout that occurs after he learns that neither Wenck's 12th Army nor Felix Steiner's Army Group will be coming to the defense of Berlin. In RealLife, both forces were trying only to get West so they could surrender to the Western Allies, with Wenck's forces in particular trying to evacuate as many civilians as they could from the vengeful Red Army while slowing down the latter as much as they could. Other commonly used scenes include [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TU0VVId8Mg Hitler planning Steiner's counter-attack]] (the aforementioned FreakOut happens when he's told this can't be done), [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt3v7tigsr Hitler taking a phone call]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_WOcx4IS7M Hitler eating dinner and learning that Heinrich Himmler attempted to have Germany surrender]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SKJMURTcBk Otto Gunsche informing Hitler that Fegelein has gone AWOL]].

** Joseph Goebbels has more pronounced VillainousCheekbones than his real-life counterpart, making him look more like a creepy, skeletal figure with soulless eyes.

The film is also known as the source of all those ''WebVideo/HitlerRants'' videos, wherein the [[GagSub subtitles are edited]] to satirize all kinds of usually trivial topics. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBWmkwaTQ0k The scene]] that is used for most of the Hitler Rants is actually a Hitler freakout that occurs after he learns that neither Wenck's 12th Army nor Felix Steiner's Army Group will be coming to the defense of Berlin. In RealLife, both forces were trying only to get West so they could surrender to the Western Allies, with Wenck's forces in particular trying to evacuate as many civilians as they could from the vengeful Red Army while slowing down the latter as much as they could. Other commonly used scenes include Hitler planning Steiner's counter-attack (the aforementioned FreakOut happens when he's told this can't be done), Hitler taking a phone call, Hitler eating dinner and learning that Heinrich Himmler attempted to have Germany surrender, and Otto Gunsche informing Hitler that Fegelein has gone AWOL.

** After his VillainousBreakdown, Hitler gives his generals permission to do whatever they want as he sulks over his impeding defeat. Although they criticize Hitler's plans behind his back, the generals do nothing with this rare opportunity. Instead, they just wait until their dear leader recovers from his breakdown and starts giving them impossible orders again, not willing to take responsibility for the fate of the Germans. It's such a cowardice moment that Fegelein calls them out for being stupid and spineless.