#166- Downfall

Quick recap: An account of Hitler’s last days, told from the perspective of his secretary Traudl Junge

This is where that ‘angry Hitler’ parody comes from

Fun (?) fact: from IMDb: ‘During the war, the majority of the cyanide capsules produced were made in the concentration camps, which made sabotage a real problem. This is one of the reasons why many Germans who committed suicide by cyanide also shot themselves to make sure they would die. This is also the reason why Adolf Hitler‘s beloved dog Blondi was poisoned; he wanted to make sure his batch of cyanide was not fake.’

My thoughts: I know I say it often, but seriously you guys, THIS is the most depressing movie ever. If nothing else, the last 1/2 of the movie is just people killing themselves as well as children and dogs. And it’s all real, which adds another layer of tragedy.

At 166 on the list, Downfall is the most uncomfortable movie I have ever sat through. It started off a little boring, with people calling Hitler crazy (as they were wont to do) because he decided to stay in Berlin, which was close to being occupied by the Russians. World War II history just doesn’t do much for me, I think, because it has been talked about and researched so thoroughly that I feel I know all that I need to know. But at some point, I can’t really pinpoint when, this movie got to me. I think it was one of the scenes with Hitler and Eva Braun or with Traudl Junge, where he seemed almost…..charming. And then with the rest of the SS officers, many of them were seen as almost human, although they were known to have committed some of the worst atrocities in history. I felt intensely guilty having any emotion whatsoever, considering the 6 million Jews that were tortured and killed. But at the same time, it made sense. We would like to paint Hitler and his officers as completely evil because it makes it easier to separate right from wrong, black from white. Reality is much more complicated, unfortunately. Dr. Goebbels and his wife seemed like decently normal people who had a beautiful family, but then they went and poisoned all 6 of the children simply because they didn’t want them to live in a world where the Nazi regime was no longer in power. Eva Braun brought out the softer side of Hitler, if there was one, even though she was just as crazy as he was.

Throughout most of the movie, I felt like I was watching a documentary instead of a bunch of actors recreating scenes. When I was looking up pictures to add to this post (none seemed appropriate), it impressed me how realistic the bunker was compared to the real thing. The casting was also spot on, almost terrifyingly accurate. This made the scenes like the children being poisoned and Hitler and Eva committing suicide all the more difficult to watch.

Most people reach for Schindler’s List when trying to understand all the evil that happened in World War II, but I think Downfall is a necessary companion to show another perspective. My opinion, as well as most of the world’s, will never change about the Nazis or Hitler, but the things I have believed up to this point are no longer as accurate or as simple as they were before.

Final review: 5/5.

Up next: The Jazz Singer

1 Comment

#165- Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Quick recap: The aliens have made contact and they don’t want to murder us after all! (that we know of………yet)

Fun (?) fact: The cast and crew of Close Encounters of the Third Kind were all lame. The little kid in the movie, Cary Guffey, was really good at nailing his scene so Spielberg had shirts printed that said ‘One-Take Cary’. In another highly hilarious t-shirt creating story, actor François Truffaut said his line ‘they belong here more than we’, but the crew heard it as ‘Zey belong here, Mozambique’ so of course they had to commemorate it somehow. I just imagine a whole bunch of lame dads running around the set yelling, ‘that’s hilarious! Put it on a t-shirt!’ and then laughing uproariously.

This, I would buy.

My thoughts: A bonus fun fact to make up for the lame one earlier: I’m terrified of aliens. Now, to be fair, I’m terrified of almost everything from spiders to wind turbines to glow in the dark books. Aliens have a been a weird constant, however, and it feels nice to finally get that off my chest. I don’t even know where the fear began, except it might have something to do with the tv show Sightings that used to come on late at night and the fact that I lived in a small town. It’s always the small towns that are affected, for some reason. Anyway, although I have seen Close Encounters of the Third Kind before and I know how the movie ends, I still expected an ending where the mother(?) alien comes out of the ship and obliterates everyone. Actually, I would’ve preferred that over the sickingly sweet aliens Spielberg dreamed up.

I should also mention that I’m not one of those people who hate Spielberg. He’s iconic, one of the best directors of the last half century. But in being so prolific, he has also amassed quite a few tropes that are hard to ignore the more I watch his films. One of them is the Happy Ending, in which everything works out for good ole’ Roy. He’s the main character, a normal guy who has a CLOSE ENCOUNTER OF THE THIRD KIND and becomes drawn to the Devil’s Tower for some reason. Along the way, his story is actually pretty dark with his family basically abandoning him because he can’t perform basic tasks like eating mashed potatoes and not filling the entire home with shrubbery and dirt. But in the end, it’s all ok because the creepy alien children choose him to live on their spaceship and form a circle around him, as if he is now their god.

All that out of the way, I actually really enjoyed the film. I have no idea how realistic it all is, but the scenes in the beginning with the power going out, the mysterious wind and the magnetic forces all seemed plausible. The scene where the kid Barry is abducted also seemed realistic and terrifying and maybe gave me nightmares later on. Finally, my cold heart that wanted to scoff throughout this whole movie and join the ranks of Spielberg haters was ultimately warmed by the musical conversation that occurred between the scientists and the mother ship, which also included a nice Jaws reference. Prolific can be a detriment at times because it can cause excellent directors to fall back on tropes, but it also means that you end up with a director who knows how to create a story and capture the audience. Good going, Spielberg.

Final review: 4/5. Not perfect, but enjoyable and utterly terrifying.

Up next: Downfall

#164- Tokyo Story

Quick recap: An older couple visit their adult children in Tokyo, only to find out they have raised selfish jerks who only care about themselves.

Fun (?) fact: Director Yasujirô Ozu never married and lived with his mother his whole life which comes as no surprise, given the context of the movie.

My thoughts: I was NOT prepared for this movie. Like, at all, in any way prepared. I didn’t think I would need to, because it seemed like a run of the mill boring film and I already imagined the snarky responses I would write after it was all over. Two hours later, as the final scene fades and the credits come on, I’m a sobbing mess trying desperately to lure the cats over to comfort me in my time of need. They weren’t having it, by the way. My sudden sadness and crying startled them out of their sleep only moments earlier and I imagine this is a grudge they will be carrying for awhile.

The film’s surface level blandness is what drew me in initially. There is never anything explosive that happens in the film or anything remotely scandalous. When I first read the synopsis for the movie I imagined it was the sort of thing mothers took their children to, in order to guilt them for not visiting more. It’s this blandness that makes the film so moving, though. I knew from the very beginning that the mother was going to die and yet it was still a shock when it happened and something I took as a personal loss because I had just seen her life for two hours. She was not a perfect person and not even spectacular, but an ordinary woman, just trying to visit her family one last time. Her absence at the end of the film is a void that I have never experienced in any other movie up until this point.

The never ending sweetness of the couple was a little much at times, but I don’t know if that was the director’s intent or if it was a mirror of the culture. The adult children did seem especially selfish, but not in a sinister way. At one point, they decide to send their parents to a resort bath because they can’t be bothered taking them around them city. It was a jerk move, but in their defense they had very busy jobs that would have been difficult to get away from. There are hints that the family has had its own share of trouble- one son was killed in the war and seemed like an ass before he died. His widow is the one that shows the most kindness, offering to take the couple around and letting the mother sleep in her house when they had nowhere else to stay. The father was also apparently a heavy drinker when he was younger which might explain some of the coldness his children feel towards him but still doesn’t really excuse their actions.

I could go on and on about this movie and what I learned, but it’s really something somebody has to experience for themselves. I wouldn’t even say that the biggest commentary is about parent relationships but instead about death itself and its finality.

Final review: 5/5

Up next: Close Encounters of the Third Kind

#163- Kandahar

Quick recap: A woman,originally from Afghanistan, travels back to her home country to save her sister before she commits suicide. It’s an understatement to say that this movie is a downer.

photo from National Geographic http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/12/afghan-women/rubin-text

Fun (?) fact: Hassan Tantai, who played Tabib Sahid in the film, is under indictment in the US for the murder of an Iranian Diplomat. That was decidedly not a fun fact. Sorry.

A better fun fact- the Pallas’s cat lives in Afghanistan. This is the most awesome cat EVER.

My thoughts: Kandahar is one of those films where I thought I knew the topic but then while watching, realized that I actually had no idea about anything and should really be ashamed of myself. Being an American I can tell you anything you want to know about the events of 9/11 and yet I still don’t really understand why it happened and who attacked us. Kandahar has its flaws, like almost everything else (except perhaps tres leches cake) but if nothing else, it opened my eyes a bit to what had been building in Afghanistan before it spilled over into the rest of the world.

Concerning the plot, Kandahar is a simple story about two sisters, one who is risking her life to save the other one. The threat of suicide is mentioned at the very beginning of the film and it is shocking to hear, but became less so as the film went on. I understand the purpose of adding that element, so that Nafas has a goal and a timeline, but with each new character introduced I found myself wanting to know more about their background and less about the sister. I think this speaks volumes about director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, an Iranian who manages to humanize a region that most of the world ignored before 2001.

The scenery in Afghanistan made for a visually striking film as well, although many parts were shot in other countries. Director Makhmalbaf also spliced in documentary footage with the fictional narrative, which I’m conflicted about. It was easy to tell what was real and what wasn’t, but it only made me long for more truth. I would’ve been just as content to watch a documentary about Afghan women, but that probably wouldn’t have stood out in the film world like Kandahar ultimately did. I think what makes this movie so meaningful is that we know what is going to happen next, and there is nothing to stop it.

Final review: 5/5. Very difficult to get through, but mostly because I wish I could do more.

Up next: A Tokyo Story

1001 Movie Nights

Category Archives: Movies

#166- Downfall

#165- Close Encounters of the Third Kind

#164- Tokyo Story

#163- Kandahar

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: