Downfall

In my opinion, Downfall did an excellent job visually portraying the story of WWII from the German point of view. The actor playing Adolf Hitler did an excellent job. From the beginning of the film, the director shows exactly how dynamic and powerful Hitler's presence was. Mor importantly, he is able to illustrate the line between genious and insanity that Hitler so mesmorizingly flirted with. As we begin the movie, the group of girls waiting for Hitler in the hollow, cold, and empty room right away show the power of Hitler. Each girl displayed a nervous emotion on their face, mixed with almost an overwhelming joy to actually meet the man. The downfall of the German army at the battle of Berlin mirrors Hitlers downfall as an individual. As his army begins to deteriorate, so does Hitler. Within the first few minutes of the movie, we know that this is taking place during the last hours of Hitlers life. However, it is not until Hitler begins to understand the he is losing the battle and his city, that he begins to fall apart. On several different occasions throughout the movie, we notice Hitler holds his hand behind his back, in an elegant and sophisticated sort of stance. However, the audience can see that his hand is violently shaking as if he is sick or perhaps nervous.

The camera and mise-en-scene of the movie do a lot to further illustrate the downfall of Hitler. The city of Berlin is in shambles. As the Russian army approaches, Hitler orders the army to destroy everything. We see documents and papers and enormous piles of equipment and supplies being burned and pillaged, simply so the Russians couls not get their hands on it. The camera angles and frames often help to illustrate the situation. As bombs were dropping and exploding, the camera would shake violently, as it would for a soldier first person. In one particular scene filmed in the bunkers below ground, the camera zooms in on a glass of water sitting on a desk, that shakes and the water ripples as the bombs overhead continue to drop.

The director also is able to very powerfully illustrate the horrible effects the war had on the civilians, especially the children. Multiple times throughout the movie we see civilians running helplessly for their lives while bombs and guns are being shot everywhere. In the scene with the young boy who refuses to leave the bunker he is firing rockets from, we see how desperate Hitler's army becomes. In the instance of the doctor who ran into the hospital to try and retrieve medicine, we see him running down halls empty of people, yet littered with anything imaginable in a hospital. We can hear his footsteps echo throughout the hospital, and when he comes across the room with the old and dying people, we immediatley see how helpless and powerless the civilians have become. Not only is Hitler doing nothing to supply them with help medicinally, but they are helplessly stuck in a hospital that is in the middle of a war zone.