Der Untergang
Downfall
Berlin, April 1945. A nation awaits its downfall. House-to-house fighting rages in the streets of the capital. Hitler and his officers and closest confidantes have barricaded themselves in the Führer's Bunker. Among them is Traudl Junge, Hitler's private secretary, who refuses to desert him.
Outside, the situation escalates. While the Red Army advances and people scramble in desperation as the districts are rocked by explosions, Hitler experiences the downfall of the Third Reich behind the walls of the bunker. Although Berlin can no longer be held, the Führer refuses to leave the city. As Albert Speer, his official architect, puts it, he wants to be "standing on the stage when the curtain drops."
Screenwriter and producer Bernd Eichinger bases his history of the downfall of the Third Reich on Joachim Fest's bestseller of the same title and Traudl Junge's memoirs, focusing on the time between April 20, 1945, Hitler's last birthday, and May 2, 1945, when Hitler and his followers evade the hopeless struggle through suicide. Director Oliver Hirschbiegel brings the historical figures to life with documentary precision. Hitler, played by Bruno Ganz with alarming authenticity, is not portrayed as a demonic madman, but rather as a dictator filled with destructive energy who deliberately stages his own downfall and that of the German people.
Source: 55. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (Catalogue)
Credits
Director
Screenplay
Director of photography
Editing
Music
Cast
- Adolf Hitler
- Traudl Junge
- Magda Goebbels
- Joseph Goebbels
- Eva Braun
- Albert Speer
- Prof. Dr. Werner Haase
- General Hermann Fegelein
- General H. Helmut Weidling
- SS-General Wilhelm Mohnke
Production company
Producer
Alle Credits
Director
Assistant director
Script supervisor
Screenplay
based on
Director of photography
Steadycam operator
Optical effects
Still photography
Titles / Opticals
Lighting design
Production design
Prop master
Property master
Stand-by props
Make-up artist
Costume design
Editing
Sound design
Sound
Foley artist
Special effects
Music
Cast
- Adolf Hitler
- Traudl Junge
- Magda Goebbels
- Joseph Goebbels
- Eva Braun
- Albert Speer
- Prof. Dr. Werner Haase
- General Hermann Fegelein
- General H. Helmut Weidling
- SS-General Wilhelm Mohnke
- Heinrich Himmler
- General W. Burgdorf
- Gerda Christian
- Prof. E.-G. Schenck
- Adjutant Otto Günsche
- Martin Bormann
- General H. Krebs
- Heinz Linge
- Hitlerjunge Peter Kranz
- Feldwebel Tornow
- SS-Waffenoffizier
- Feldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel
- General Alfred Jodl
- Walter Hewel
- Fräulein Constanze Manziarly
- Rochus Misch
- Hanna Reitsch
- Robert von Greim
- Dorothee Kranz
- Wilhelm Kranz
- Baur
- Reichsarzt SS Grawitz
- Oberleutnant
- Verwundeter Soldat
Production company
in co-production with
in association with
Producer
Line producer
Unit production manager
Location manager
Production coordinator
Post-production
Production office
Original distributor
Shoot
- 12.08.2003 - 08.11.2003: St. Petersburg
FSK-Prüfung (DE): 16.08.2004, 99150, ab 12 Jahre / feiertagsfrei
Uraufführung: 13.09.2004, Toronto, IFF;
Kinostart (DE): 16.09.2004
Titles
- Arbeitstitel Hitler und das Ende des 3. Reichs
- Originaltitel (DE) Der Untergang
Versions
Digitalisierte Fassung
Original
FSK-Prüfung (DE): 16.08.2004, 99150, ab 12 Jahre / feiertagsfrei
Uraufführung: 13.09.2004, Toronto, IFF;
Kinostart (DE): 16.09.2004
TV-Fassung
TV-Erstsendung (DE): 19.10.2005, ARD [1. Teil];
TV-Erstsendung (DE): 20.10.2005, ARD [2.Teil]
Awards
- Bambi
- Prädikat: besonders wertvoll