DOWNFALL Is a Box-Office Hit in Germany
by Andre Soares
This past weekend, 480,000 filmgoers across Germany lined up to get tickets for the €13.5 million (US$16.5 million) German-made production Der Untergang / Downfall, a highly controversial film that depicts the 12 last days of Adolf Hitler in his underground bunker. The figures for Downfall, which stars Bruno Ganz (Der Himmel über Berlin / Wings of Desire) as the Nazi leader, were deemed particularly impressive since the nearly three-hour-long production only allowed two showings per evening.
In an interview with the Bild tabloid, former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl declared that Downfall "was a film that had to be made and I hope that as many people as possible will see it." The former Chancellor added, "It is an important film because it gives the younger generation an introduction to how people were very much led astray by National Socialism."
Some German critics, however, have been considerably less impressed than Kohl. "The German public will see a film that is far too long, ridiculous and ultimately banal," wrote the Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel. "[Producer Bernd] Eichinger and his director [Oliver Hirschbiegel] have involuntarily turned out the worst comedy of the year." Der Spiegel magazine, which had earlier featured Downfall on its cover, was equally dismissive, stating "One does not need a €13m film which is about as harmless and superficial as a television soap opera to make the banal observation that humankind can be evil."
On a dissenting note, Toronto Star film critic Peter Howell picked Downfall as one of his twelve favorite films at this year’s Toronto Film Festival.
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