Downfall (2004)
Coming Out at 16 September 2004 in theaters.
“Der Untergang”
Biography, Drama, History
Downfall is historical war drama film directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel from a screenplay by its producer, Bernd Eichinger. The film stars Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Corinna Harfouch, Ulrich Matthes, Juliane Köhler, Heino Ferch, Christian Berkel, Matthias Habich, and Thomas Kretschmann. It is set during the Battle of Berlin in World War II, when Nazi Germany is on the verge of defeat, and depicts the final days of Adolf Hitler (portrayed by Ganz).
Principal photography took place from September to November 2003, on location in Berlin, Munich, and in Saint Petersburg, Russia. As the film is set in and around the Führerbunker, Hirschbiegel used eyewitness accounts, survivors’ memoirs, and other historical sources during production to reconstruct the look and atmosphere of 1940s Berlin. The screenplay was based on the books Inside Hitler’s Bunker by historian Joachim Fest and Until the Final Hour by Hitler’s former private secretary Traudl Junge, among other accounts of the period.
In November 1942, at the Wolf’s Lair in East Prussia, Leader of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler selects Traudl Junge as his personal secretary. Three years later, the Red Army has pushed Germany’s forces back and surrounded Berlin. On Hitler’s 56th birthday, the Red Army begins shelling Berlin’s city centre. Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler tries to persuade Hitler to leave Berlin, but Hitler refuses. Himmler leaves to negotiate terms with the Western Allies in secret. Later, Himmler’s adjutant Hermann Fegelein also attempts to persuade Hitler to flee, but Hitler insists that he will win or die in Berlin. Dr. Ernst-Günther Schenck is ordered to leave Berlin per Operation Clausewitz, though he persuades an SS general to let him stay in Berlin to treat the injured. In the streets, Hitler Youth child soldier Peter Kranz’s father approaches Peter’s unit and tries persuading him to leave. Peter, who destroyed two enemy tanks and will soon be awarded a medal by Hitler, calls his father a coward and runs away.
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
Writers: Bernd Eichinger, Joachim Fest (book), Traudl Junge (book), Melissa Müller (book)
Stars: Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Corinna Harfouch, Ulrich Matthes, Juliane Köhler, Heino Ferch, Christian Berkel
Cast:
Bruno Ganz | … | Adolf Hitler |
Alexandra Maria Lara | … | Traudl Junge |
Corinna Harfouch | … | Magda Goebbels |
Ulrich Matthes | … | Joseph Goebbels |
Juliane Köhler | … | Eva Braun |
Heino Ferch | … | Albert Speer |
Christian Berkel | … | Prof. Ernst-Günther Schenck |
Matthias Habich | … | Prof. Werner Haase |
Thomas Kretschmann | … | Hermann Fegelein |
Michael Mendl | … | General Weidling |
André Hennicke | … | General Mohnke |
Ulrich Noethen | … | Heinrich Himmler |
Birgit Minichmayr | … | Gerda Christian |
Rolf Kanies | … | General Hans Krebs |
Justus von Dohnányi | … | General Wilhelm Burgdorf |
Dieter Mann | … | Feldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel |
Christian Redl | … | General Alfred Jodl |
Götz Otto | … | Otto Günsche |
Thomas Limpinsel | … | Heinz Linge |
Thomas Thieme | … | Martin Bormann |
Alexander Held | … | Walter Hewel |
Donevan Gunia | … | Peter Kranz |
Bettina Redlich | … | Frl. Constanze Manziarly |
Heinrich Schmieder | … | Rochus Misch |
Anna Thalbach | … | Hanna Reitsch |
Dietrich Hollinderbäumer | … | Ritter Robert von Greim |
Ulrike Krumbiegel | … | Dorothee Kranz |
Karl Kranzkowski | … | Wilhelm Kranz |
Thorsten Krohn | … | Dr. Stumpfegger |
Jürgen Tonkel | … | Erich Kempka |
Devid Striesow | … | Feldwebel Tornow |
Fabian Busch | … | Obersturmbannführer Stehr |
Christian Hoening | … | Reichsarzt SS Grawitz |
Aleksandr Slastin | … | General Tschuikow |
Alina Sokar | … | Die Goebbels Kinder |
Amelie Menges | … | Die Goebbels Kinder |
Charlotte Stoiber | … | Die Goebbels Kinder |
Gregory Borlein | … | Die Goebbels Kinder |
Julia Bauer | … | Die Goebbels Kinder |
Laura Borlein | … | Die Goebbels Kinder |
Andrey Blagoslovenski | … | Soldat im Ruinenkeller |
Dirk Borchardt | … | Panzerkommandant |
Elizaveta Boyarskaya | … | Schwester Erna |
Michael Brandner | … | H. Fritzsche |
I. Bubenchikov | … | Schädle |
Leopold von Buttlar | … | Sohn Grawitz |
Martin Butzke | … | SS-Soldat 1 |
Dmitriy Bykovskiy-Romashov | … | Soldat 2 |
Sergey Evseev | … | Adjutant 2 von General Mohnke |
Mathias Gnädinger | … | Hermann Göring |
Bohdan Graczyk | … | Oberst Clausen |
Sergey Rublev | … | SS-Adjutant |
Norbert Heckner | … | Standesbeamter Wagner |
Enno Hesse | … | Oberleutnant |
Evgeniy Ilovayskiy | … | Älterer Zivilist 1 |
Julia Jentsch | … | Hanna Potrowski |
Oleg Khoroshilov | … | Henker |
Michael Kind | … | SA-Mann / Ruinenkeller |
Elisabeth von Koch | … | Margarete Lorenz |
Tara Marie Linke | … | Hedwig Brandt |
Michael Lippold | … | Junger Offizier 1 |
Konstantin Lukashov | … | Älterer Soldat |
Stefan Mehren | … | Verwundeter Soldat |
Ilya Mozgovoy | … | Soldat 1 |
Silke Nikowski | … | Frau Grawitz |
Alexei Oleinikov | … | SS-Offizier Brauerei |
Oleg Piminov | … | Adjutant von General Mohnke |
Katerina Poladjan | … | Russische Arzthelferin |
Oleg Popov | … | Adjutant von General Weidling |
Silke Popp | … | Ursula Puttkamer |
Vasiliy Reutov | … | Adjutant von General Krebs |
Igor Romanov | … | SS-Offizier Högel |
Tanja Schleiff | … | Russische Ärztin |
Christian Schmidt | … | SS-Mann Greifkommando |
August Schmölzer | … | Baur |
Jurij Schrader | … | Dolmetscher |
Boris Schwarzmann | … | Matwej Blanter |
Mariya Semyonova | … | Rothaarige Frau |
Igor Sergeev | … | Russischer Soldat |
Valeri Slavinski | … | Mann |
Valeriy Solomakhin | … | Älterer Zivilist 2 |
Hans H. Steinberg | … | General Koller |
Klaus-Jürgen Steinmann | … | Offizier 1 |
Oliver Stritzel | … | Maschinist Hentschel |
Veit Stübner | … | Obergruppenführer Tellermann |
Mikhail Tryasorukov | … | Adjutant Müller |
Vsevolod Tsurilo | … | Russischer Adjutant |
Klaus B. Wolf | … | Junger Marinesoldat |
Elena Dreyden | … | Inge Dombrowski |
Tatyana Zhuravlyova | … | Alte Frau |
Aleksandr Styopin | … | HJ Führer |
Thomas Franke | … | Wachsoldat vor der Wolfsschanze |
Traudl Junge | … | (archive footage) |
Martin Kessler | … | Nazi Officer |
Henning Peker | … | Wachsoldat vor der Wolfsschanze |
Dieter Rupp | … | Mohnke’s Adjutant im Bunker |
Sources: imdb & wikipedia
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