German film shows Hitler's tender side

German film shows Hitler's tender side



Tuesday, September 7, 2004 Posted: 2:58 PM EDT (1858 GMT)

COLOGNE, Germany (Hollywood Reporter) -- A German movie that depicts Adolf Hitler as a soft-spoken man who charms his secretary and lovingly plays with his pet Alsatian is turning into one of the country's most controversial films.

"The Downfall: Hitler and the End of the Third Reich," which opens locally Sept. 16, stars Swiss-born actor Bruno Ganz ("Wings of Desire") as the Nazi dictator in his Berlin bunker during the final days of World War II.

In addition to depicting Hitler not just as a screaming demagogue, "Downfall" breaks one of the last taboos of German cinema by portraying Hitler in a central role.

"It is not the first time (we've seen) Adolf Hitler on the screen, but it is certainly the first time they have tried to discover the human touch in the monster," said Rolf Giesen, head of Berlin's Film Museum.

That approach has sparked fierce debate in the German press, with some critics warning the film could pander to neo-Nazis.

"'Downfall' prompts the question whether one should be allowed to feel sympathy for Hitler," German newspaper the Frankfurter Allgemeine wrote in a recent article criticizing the film.

But leading German newsweekly Der Spiegel, in a cover story, praised Eichinger for giving what it called "the absurd drama" in Hitler's bunker "a real face."

Director Oliver Hirschbiegel's film, which will have its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival September 14, is based on firsthand testimony and recently discovered historical documents recounting the period from April 20, Hitler's last birthday, until May 2, 1945, when the Soviet army stormed the Berlin bunker to find the Fuhrer had committed suicide.

The story is told from the perspective of Traudl Junge, Hitler's last stenographer, who was the focus of the 2002 documentary "Blind Spot -- Hitler's Secretary." Producer-screenwriter Bernd Eichinger's script is based on her memoir, "Until the Final Hour," and "Inside Hitler's Bunker" by famed German historian Joachim Fest.

But the focus of "Downfall," and the source of much of its controversy, is its star. Ganz isn't the first actor to portray Hitler in his final hours. Alec Guinness took on the role in the 1972 feature "The Last Ten Days," as did Anthony Hopkins in the 1981 miniseries "The Bunker."

But Ganz is the first to show the dictator as the ashen-faced wreck witnesses say he was at the end, spitting out hate-filled monologs about the Jews and alleged betrayers, while commanding nonexistent troops into battle as his hands trembled with what historians believe was late-stage Parkinson's disease.

Ganz also has the advantage of speaking in Hitler's distinct Austrian-accented voice. The actor based much of his performance on a recently discovered Finnish radio recording made in 1942. The tape is the only recording in existence on which the Fuhrer can be heard speaking in a normal tone of voice, not the hysterical ranting on display in his public speeches.

Ganz said it was not possible to have any real sympathy for Hitler.

"But I'm not ashamed of the fact that I could feel sympathy for him during fleeting seconds," the actor explained. "If the audience doesn't, at least in certain sequences, feel sympathy for the monster Hitler, then I didn't do my job as an actor."

Movies dealing with the Nazi regime have had a mixed box office history in Germany and, until now, no German film has ever attempted to make Hitler a central dramatic figure. Previous features have relegated the Fuhrer to the background.

Budgeted at $16 million, "Downfall" also is one of the most expensive German-language films of all time and a major financial risk for Eichinger's Constantin Film.

But the company behind "The Name of the Rose" and "Das Boot" is counting on strong crossover potential for "Downfall." Constantin will release the film September 16 in Germany on 400 screens, a wide bow for a German-language production.

"The time is ripe for such a film," Eichinger said. "It's important not just to shed light on one's own history superficially, but rather to tell it from within."

That's a view apparently shared by international distributors. After seeing a 15-minute show reel and an English-language translation of the script, firms in France, Japan, Italy, Russia and the Benelux countries snapped it up.

"Downfall" isn't the only upcoming German production that aims to tell the Nazi story from the inside. A new three-part docudrama, "The Devil's Architect" by director Heinrich Breloer, looks at the life of Hitler's architect Albert Speer and features TV star Tobias Moretti as Hitler. Another new docudrama, "Joseph Goebbels," looks at the Nazi propaganda boss, who is also the subject of an upcoming feature-length documentary, "The Goebbels Experiment," by director Lutz Hachmeister.