Unglaublich:hier die komplette Review aus der New York Post

[Damien3]

Ich muss euch damit quälen!
Schaut euch diese Scheiße in der renomiertesten >Zeitung Amerikas an.


The Last Days of Hitler: Raving and Ravioli



By A. O. SCOTT

Published: February 18, 2005


Movie Minutes: 'Downfall'
A. O. Scott reviews the German wartime drama "Downfall," starring Bruno Ganz as Adolph Hitler.















Newmarket Films
Juliane Köhler as Eva Braun and Bruno Ganz as Hitler.




ccording to "Downfall," one of the last meals Adolf Hitler ate before he killed himself in his Berlin bunker was ravioli. Cheese, of course, for as this painstaking (and sometimes painful) film reminds us, the Führer did not eat meat. Apparently, he enjoyed the ravioli, complimenting the cook who made it and cleaning his plate while his dinner companions, who included his secretary, Traudl Junge, and his lover, Eva Braun, were too preoccupied to do much more than pick at their food and smoke cigarettes.

Their distraction is understandable. The Soviet Army was a few blocks away, and the once-fearsome Nazi military machine had all but collapsed. Hitler's calm demeanor may have been a sign of his own increasingly demented state, as, at least in the movie's rendition of his last days, it came between bouts of raving paranoia and delusional schemes to revive his shattered armies to fight off the advancing Allied forces.

Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, "Downfall" shifts its gaze back and forth between the crumbling military situation on the ground in Berlin and the bizarre domestic situation in the bunker underneath it, combining high wartime drama with a sense of mundane detail that verges on the surreal. It is fascinating without being especially illuminating, and it holds your attention for its very long running time without delivering much dramatic or emotional satisfaction in the end.

At times the German movie, which is one of five finalists for the Academy Award for best foreign film, has the self-conscious intimacy of a behind-the-scenes celebrity portrait. More often, it has the starchy staginess of one of those made-for-cable historical dramas that give actors of reputation (usually British) the chance to put on vintage uniforms and impersonate figures of world-historical importance, either monstrous or heroic.

Bruno Ganz, the fine Swiss-born actor who, in the course of a long career, has tended more toward world-weariness than monstrosity, tackles the biggest monster of them all with appropriate sobriety and a touch of mischief. He does some scenery chewing, and while he looks, at 64, older than Hitler did at 56 (and also kindlier), he has clearly studied Hitler's vocal and physical mannerisms closely.

The challenge Mr. Ganz faces, which Mr. Hirschbiegel, working from a screenplay by Bernd Eichinger, does not quite allow him to meet, is to make Hitler a plausible character without quite humanizing him. To play Hitler is to walk into a paradox. Sixty years after the end of World War II, he continues to exert a powerful fascination: we still want to understand not just the historical background of German National Socialism, but also the psychological and temperamental forces that shaped its leader. At the same time, though, there is still a powerful taboo against making him seem too much like one of us. We want to get close, but not too close.

A few years ago, Menno Meyjes's "Max," a flawed but not dishonorable attempt to explore Hitler's earlier life as a failed artist in Vienna, was widely criticized (often by people who had not seen it) for giving him too much humanity. Curiosity carries with it a sense of moral risk, as if understanding Hitler might be the fateful first step toward liking him.

But of course, millions of Germans - most of them ordinary and, in their own minds, decent people - loved Hitler, and it is that fact that most urgently needs to be understood, and that most challenges our own complacency. Accordingly, the real subject of "Downfall," Mr. Ganz's intriguing, creepily charismatic performance notwithstanding, is not Hitler at all, but rather his followers: the officers, bureaucrats and loyal civilians who were with him at the end.

Some of these are well known, like Eva Braun (Juliane Köhler), the architect Albert Speer (Heino Ferch) and Joseph Goebbels (Ulrich Matthes), who died, along with his wife, Magda (Corinna Harfouch), and their six children, in the bunker with their leader. Other people who figure in this story - which manages to be at once sprawling and claustrophobic - are lesser officers in the SS, and members of Hitler's bodyguard and household staff, including Traudl Junge (Alexandra Maria Lara).



Also allein der Tital mit Ravioli ist schon ein Witz, aber das die Amis jetzt noch ne Erklärung haben wie "Millionen" Liebhaber der Nazis entstehen könnenist unter aller SAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

hier noch andere Stimmen:


"Downfall is not only terrific cinema, it is also a history lesson, a gripping psychological study, and a dire warning."
-- Jurgen Fauth, ABOUT.COM

"An exhausting soap opera of doom that cuts back and forth between what seems like 100 speaking parts and conveys a chilling vision of rats being slowly flushed down a toilet."
-- Ed Gonzalez, SLANT MAGAZINE

"Tour-de-force acting by Bruno Ganz in this taut story of Hitler's final days."
-- Harvey S. Karten, COMPUSERVE

"There should have been another hour dramatizing the collapsing military situation and the futile defenses of the German people, military and civilian."
-- Mark R. Leeper, REC.ARTS.MOVIES.REVIEWS

"Downfall is not the first movie about Hitler or the last days of Nazism, but it’s certainly the most illuminating and revelatory."
-- Emanuel Levy, EMANUELLEVY.COM

"gravely misguided"
-- Nicholas Schager, FILMCRITIC.COM

"A riveting re-creation of three world-changing collapses: those of the Nazi party, of militarized Germany as a whole, and of the Führer who guided them into self-destructive ruin."
-- David Sterritt, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

"A fabulously well-crafted motion-picture. (...) as close to being in the bunker oneself as one can get. "
-- Boyd Van Hoeij, EUROPEANFILMS.NET

"Hitler's final days are brought to horrifying life in Downfall, a movie that's not a whole lot of fun, but commands one's unflinching attention for 150 straight minutes"
-- Scott Weinberg, EFILMCRITIC.COM

-- Click to read the article.
-- BBC

"Bruno Ganz as Hitler gives a tour de force performance that delineates the darkest dimensions of a bunker mentality."
-- Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, SPIRITUALITY AND HEALTH

"You feel privy to mysterious secrets and a monumental unraveling... It's impossible to look away."
-- Carlo Cavagna, ABOUTFILM.COM

"Could very well be one of the most important films of the year."
-- Edward Douglas, COMINGSOON.NET

"Hirschbiegel's gripping account of Adolf Hitler's ignominious end is a historical reenactment that hits like a swift kick to the gut."
-- Ken Fox, TV GUIDE'S MOVIE GUIDE

"Its extended running time and the sheer brutality of its subject matter will likely make this film a tough sell for non-hardcore history buffs."
-- Edward Havens, FILMJERK.COM

"A cinematic 'Götterdämmerung...'; Hirschbiegel's film pulls no punches. He neither sugarcoats nor exaggerates."
-- Arthur Lazere, CULTUREVULTURE.NET

"Like the deadly serpent's stare, 'Downfall' hypnotizes."
-- Donald J. Levit, REELTALK MOVIE REVIEWS

"A film that is revealingly human without ever being sympathetic or apologetic."
-- Shawn Levy, OREGONIAN

"While actor Bruno Ganz's impersonation of Hitler is utterly convincing ... there are a few too many moments when he comes across as a broken old man whose world has shattered around him, even if he brought the calamity on himself."
-- Shlomo Schwartzberg, BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE

"Downfall straightforwardly depicts Hitler's last days as not to offend."
-- Kent Turner, FILM-FORWARD.COM

"As Hitler, Bruno Ganz ignites the screen with every appearance: his rages against traitors and betrayal (perceived and real) are delivered with ugly conviction ...."
-- S. James Wegg, FILM THREAT

"Explores the final 10 days of the 20th century's most hateful genocidal killer with a degree of objectivity, humanity and unflinching intensity."
-- E! ONLINE


Cream of the Crop
FRESH 78%


Avg. Rating: 7.4/10
"One of the most finely-crafted World War II films ever made."
-- James Berardinelli, REELVIEWS

"Dramatizes how Hitler tapped the gnashing urge of his anger and built it into a force field, shutting out all that he didn't want to see."
-- Owen Gleiberman, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

"Downfall may be grimly self-important and inescapably trivializing. But we should be grateful that German cinema is more inclined to normalize the nation's history than rewrite it."
-- J. Hoberman, VILLAGE VOICE

"It's the well-wrought details that explain, perhaps better than any earlier film, how an entire country bought into Hitler's genocidal madness."
-- Lou Lumenick, NEW YORK POST

"The very thought of humanizing Hitler makes me queasy. If he had a good side, I don't want to know about it."
-- Jack Mathews, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

"Hitler is played with pitch-perfect precision by the Swiss-born Bruno Ganz."
-- Claudia Puig, USA TODAY

"Well worth seeing for all the nuances and variations we know little about."
-- Andrew Sarris, NEW YORK OBSERVER

"This suspenseful German drama is set during the final days of Adolph Hitler's life, when the once-fearsome Nazi military machine had all but collapsed."
-- A.O. Scott, NEW YORK TIMES

"The experience is a strange and complicated one indeed."
-- Jan Stuart, NEWSDAY

--

[Detlef P.]

Also allein der Tital mit Ravioli ist schon ein Witz, aber das die Amis jetzt noch ne Erklärung haben wie "Millionen" Liebhaber der Nazis entstehen könnenist unter aller SAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Kann sein, dass ich es überlesen habe, aber wo steht diese Erklärung? Ich habe sie nicht gefunden.

Ansonsten ist wohl klar, dass diese Vollidioten keine Ahnung haben.

Und es waren verdammt viele andere Kritiker GEGEN diesen Film (alle keine Ahnung).

[Murillo]

Curiosity carries with it a sense of moral risk, as if understanding Hitler might be the fateful first step toward liking him.

But of course, millions of Germans - most of them ordinary and, in their own minds, decent people - loved Hitler, and it is that fact that most urgently needs to be understood, and that most challenges our own complacency.

Das ist keine Erklärung, sondern der lächerliche Ansatz einer Spekulation.
Ansonsten frage ich mich ernsthaft ob Herr Scott die geringste Ahnung von der politischen Situation in Deutschland vor der Machtergreifung Hitlers hat. Wenn dies so wäre, würden einige dämliche Fragen gar nicht erst aufkommen.
Und wie kann man sich anmaßen zu behaupten, dass Hitler nichts so menschlich und "einer von uns" gewesen sein, wie wohl in diesem Film dargestellt. Er war nunmal einer von uns (Menschen) und er war keine Maschine, sondern ein ganz normaler Irrer, wie es sie heute auch zur Genüge gibt.