by Anthony O'Connor
Worth: Discs: 3 + 1, The Film: 4/5, The Extras: 4/5, Overall: 8/10
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Cast:
Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Ulrich Matthes, Corinna Harfouch, Juliane Köhler, Saskia Rosendahl, Kai Malina, Ursina Lardi, André Frid, Eva-Maria Hagen
Intro:
… textured, compelling works of cinema.
The Film:
In 1907, the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna rejected an application from a pasty artist on account of his work being a bit shit. The same thing happened when the bloke tried again in 1908. He would not try a third time. The mediocre painter in question was one Adolf Hitler, an emphatic argument for why arts funding is important. He would go on to rise in political power in 1919 and really start to crack the shits in 1923’s Beer Hall Putsch. Eventually, he would adopt a silly moustache and a stupid haircut, blame everything bad in Germany on the Jews (and others) and give long speeches about a “thousand year Reich.” In the end, that millennium-long Nazi utopia lasted twelve short years and ended with the dipshit having a sook in a bunker, off his chops on meth and finally blowing his own brains against the wall as Germany was utterly trounced by the allies. Probs should have stuck with the painting, eh Adolf? Hitler’s ignominious defeat had a huge effect on Germany, and the world in general, a fact which forms the fascinating thematic resonance of Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Downfall (2004) and Cate Shortland’s Lore (2012), both of which we’ll be discussing today as a quality, albeit not exactly cheery, double feature exploring the fall and aftermath of Nazi Germany.
Downfall (2004), dir: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Downfall begins in 1942, when a vital, confident Adolf Hitler (Bruno Ganz) chooses Traudl Junge (Alexandra Maria Lara) as his secretary. Trundl is stoked that he’s picked her and sees bright and exciting things in her future. Three years later, on April 20 1945, it’s all gone pig’s arsehole for the German forces. Hitler celebrates his 56th birthday in a bunker hiding from brutal, unrelenting artillery strikes by the massing Red Army forces. Seemingly, everyone advises Adolf to up stumps and scarper, including an exasperated Himmler (Ulrich Noethen), but he will not be moved. Paranoid, physically frail and shaking with Parkinson’s, Adolf is a shadow of his former self. Slinking around the bunker like a wraith half the time, he occasionally explodes in a rage as he blames everyone around him for the very shortcomings he, himself, put in place.
Slowly but surely, the Germans with any sense manage to find an excuse to extricate themselves elsewhere, or outright desert, leaving only the true believers behind, watching their great white hope slowly descend into madness before their eyes. It’s not exactly buoyant stuff, and at 155 minutes, it probably goes on a bit too long, but for history buffs fascinated by this time period, it’s shockingly well done.
Bruno Ganz is superb as the history’s most stroppy failed artist and he’s ably supported by an excellent cast including a terrific Alexandra Maria Lara and a genuinely creepy Ulrich Matthes as Joseph Goebbels.
The whole film functions as a cautionary tale about the dangers of throwing your lot behind one man, one leader, no matter how charismatically they speak. Sadly, it’s a message that humanity seems all too eager to ignore.
Lore (2012), dir: Cate Shortland
Although Lore is a very different film, it feels like a thematic companion piece. Set towards the end of WWII in Southern Germany, it tells the tale of 14-year-old Hannelore “Lore” Dressler (Saskia Rosendahl), the eldest child of five whose world is shattered when her Nazi Father (Hans-Jochen Wagner) and Mother (Ursina Lardi) disappear into some dark fate. Left with four dependents, Lore must take her dwindling family across war-torn Germany to reach their grandmother (Eva-Maria Hagen). But the road is hard, food is scarce and there are plenty who prey on fresh faced youngsters either out of cruelty, boredom or hopelessness.
At its core, Lore almost feels like a post-apocalyptic film. Because ultimately, for Germany at least, the world had ended in a very real way. Unlike Downfall, where you kind of felt like the people involved had it coming, at least a little bit, Lore features a crew of literal innocents who get chewed up in the machinery of a war that took a long, bloody time to wind down even after the eventual death of Hitler and surrender of Germany.
Aussie Cate Shortland (Black Widow) directs the hell out of this thing, delivering imagery that is poetic, intimate and frequently very uncomfortable. This is a kid’s eye view of things, and it’s steeped in ignorance and a genuine sense of wonder. What the hell is going on? What happened to the world? It’s beautiful, brutal, powerful stuff, with a rock solid titular performance from Saskia Rosendahl and an abrupt, ambiguous ending that resonates with righteous fury at the people who looked the other way during one of history’s most hideous periods.
The Extras:
A pretty decent bunker’s worth of extras for both films here. Downfall has the lion’s share with an audio commentary by director Oliver Hirschbiegel, Shooting in Russia – a featurette with production executive Christine Rothe and production designer Bernd Lepel.
There are interviews with cast and filmmakers, old and new, and an interview with biographer Melissa Müller on Hitler’s secretary, Traudl Junge. There’s also a third disc with the longer, 181 minute extended TV Cut of the film for the masochists out there.
Best of the bunch is the feature length doco Hitler’s Final Days: The Movie ‘Downfall’, an exhaustive look at the production dealing with every aspect from cast to crew and beyond. It’s a fascinating insight into the lengths the production team went to tell this dark story of one of humanity’s blackest moments in as accurate and unflinching a way possible.
The movie comes in a handsome hardbox complete with a 44-page booklet featuring a brand new essay by film and music historian (and top bloke) David Michael Brown.
Lore’s extras are a little lighter, with zero audio commentaries and a short but informative The Making of ‘Lore’ featurette, which does a good job of digging into the philosophy behind the film. There’s also an alternate ending which is much less interesting and surprising than the one Cate Shortland and crew went with, plus some trailers and deleted scenes.
The Verdict:
Both brilliant, well observed and human, Downfall and Lore make an arresting double bill; beautifully shot, acted and dripping with atmosphere and grim historical truths.
This pairing isn’t always a good time (there’s a reason that neither of these films has a blooper reel), but fans of historical movies that offer unflinching examinations of dark times will get a lot out of these textured, compelling works of cinema.
