Der Untergang

Drama, War, History

Bruno Ganz	Adolf Hitler
Heino Ferch	Albert Speer
Matthias Habich	Prof. Dr. Werner Haase
Christian Berkel	Prof. Dr. Ernst-Günter Schenck
Juliane Köhler	Eva Braun
Thomas Kretschmann	SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Fegelein
Ulrich Matthes	Joseph Goebbels
Corinna Harfouch	Magda Goebbels
Alexandra Maria Lara	Traudl Junge
Michael Mendl	General der Artillerie Helmuth Weidling

Director	Oliver Hirschbiegel
Producer	Bernd Eichinger; Wolf-Dietrich Brücker
Writer	Bernd Eichinger; Joachim Fest
Cinematography	Rainer Klausmann
Musician	Stephan Zacharias

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. "Downfall" explores these final days of the Reich, where senior German leaders (such as Himmler and Goring) began defecting from their beloved Fuhrer, in an effort to save their own lives, while still others (Joseph Goebbels) pledge to die with Hitler. Hitler, himself, degenerates into a paranoid shell of a man, full of optimism one moment and suicidal depression the next. When the end finally does comes, 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.