Downfall (2004)

Downfall rating: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic

IMDb8.2/10· 398K votes

Rotten Tomatoes90%

Metacritic82%

TMDb7.9/10· 4K votes

With 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, backed by 8.2/10 on IMDb and 82/100 on Metacritic, critical reception of this film has been very positive.

About Downfall

In April of 1945, Germany stands at the brink of defeat with the Russian Army closing in from the east and the Allied Expeditionary Force attacking from the west. In Berlin, capital of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler proclaims that Germany will still achieve victory and orders his generals and advisers to fight to the last man. When the end finally does come, and Hitler lies dead by his own hand, what is left of his military must find a way to end the killing that is the Battle of Berlin, and lay down their arms in surrender.

Cast of Downfall

• 

  Bruno Ganz

  as Adolf Hitler

• 

  Alexandra Maria Lara

  as Traudl Junge

• 

  Corinna Harfouch

  as Magda Goebbels

• 

  Ulrich Matthes

  as Joseph Goebbels

• 

  Juliane Köhler

  as Eva Braun

• 

  Heino Ferch

  as Albert Speer

• 

  Christian Berkel

  as Prof. Dr. Ernst-Günter Schenck

• 

  Thomas Kretschmann

  as SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Fegelein

• 

  Ulrich Noethen

  as Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler

• 

  Birgit Minichmayr

  as Gerda Christian

• 

  Rolf Kanies

  as General der Infanterie Hans Krebs

• 

  Justus von Dohnányi

  as General der Infanterie Wilhelm Burgdorf

Downfall facts

Original title

Der Untergang

Budget

$16M

Box office

$92.2M

Our take on Downfall

Oliver Hirschbiegel's war drama plunges into Berlin in April 1945, as the Third Reich collapses with Soviet forces advancing from the east and the Allies from the west. Inside Hitler's bunker, he still proclaims victory and orders his generals to fight to the last man, until his suicide leaves his shattered command to end the killing and surrender. Claustrophobic and unflinching, it observes the final days of a regime from the inside, dwelling on delusion, loyalty and moral collapse rather than battlefield spectacle. Demanding and grim, it rewards viewers drawn to serious historical cinema and character study. Not for those seeking comfort or easy answers, but powerful for anyone ready to sit with hard history.