Downfall

by Oliver Hirschbiegel

Nominated for the Best Foreign-Language Oscar in 2005

Berlin, April 1945. A nation awaits its downfall. Fighting rages in the streets of the capital. Hitler and his closest confidantes have barricaded themselves in the Fuehrer's Bunker. Among them Traudl Junge, Hitler's private secretary.Outside the situation escalates. Although Berlin can no longer be held, the Fuehrer refuses to leave the city. While the full force of the war crashes down over his folk, he stages his final departure. Only hours before their joint suicide, he marries Eva Braun. Then their corpses are burned so that they do not fall into the hands of the enemy.Many others also choose suicide. As the situation becomes ever more hopeless, Magda Goebbels poisons her six children before she and her husband take their own lives. Shortly thereafter Traudl Junge and several others manage to escape at the last minute...

Genre / Language / Length
Drama / German / 155 minutes
Original title
Der Untergang
directed by
Oliver Hirschbiegel (DOWNFALL)
director of photography
Rainer Klausmann
produced by
Constantin Film in co-production with NDR, WDR, DEGETO FILM, ORF and EOS PRODUCTION and RAI CENAM supported by FilmFernsehFonds Bayern (FFF), Bayerischer BankenFonds (BBF) and Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA)
Cast
  • Bruno Ganz (THE PARTY, DOWNFALL)
  • Alexandra Maria Lara (RUSH, DOWNFALL)
  • Corinna Harfouch (DOWNFALL, LARA)
  • Ulrich Matthes (DOWNFALL)
  • Juliane Köhler (TWO LIVES)
  • Heino Ferch (THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX, DOWNFALL)
  • Christian Berkel (ELLE, DOWNFALL)
  • Matthias Habich
  • Thomas Kretschmann (KING KONG; RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALYPSE)
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