Downfall

This film was awesome. I'm usually skeptical of films professors show in class (except film courses). My professor showed a film called Downfall which depicted in German the story of WW2 from the German side.

It was fascinating to see Hitler as a strategic military leader, as an uncle to extremely cute kids and as a nice boss to young women wanting work. This is the story that should be told. The story we're told is that he's an evil man. Yes, what he did was evil and he had very evil ideas, but he was human like we all are. This movie really made the story of WW2 more intense for me. Scary to realize how human he was: that there are probably people like him in the world, that I could know someone like him. Hitler is shown as a good man. He gives these women typing jobs when no one else is hiring. He's charming and seems like a good guy. To these women, he is a good man: he gave them a job. He looked especially nice in contrast to the war scenes. Hitler never was in the war scenes. I'm not even sure that he ever killed anyone.

The war scenes were intense. To see children on the battlefield was so sad. These children thought they were doing the right thing. Saying that it is an honor to fight in battle. It's sad what these children and men have been told to believe, and more sad that they truly believe it. My favorite part was when the young boy realizes he's in war, that it's not just a game. He sees soldiers shot and dying all around him. Thankfully, he survives (I'm not sure I could have held myself together if he had died), but it was intense to see such innocence in a terrifying situation like war. I guess it's a little crazy to me that some of the officers would rather blow their brains out than admit defeat. This movie helps show the intensity of these men's loyalty to Hitler. I had no idea they were that into the "cause." It was sad to watch these men shoot themselves in the head, thinking that was the best option they had. I really liked the way the movie presented an almost documentary-feel to the film. The camera never seemed preplanned. No pleasinly cinematic pans or zooms. It felt very much like a voyeur was over in Germany filming these moments as they happened. It made the truth of the film seem more valid. It was intense.