Downfall

**_Hitler’s end_** As the Red Army encroaches upon Berlin in late April, 1945, the final days of Hitler in his bunker (Bruno Ganz) are told from the perspective of his secretary, Traudl Junge (Alexandra Maria Lara). "Downfall” (2004) is not a conventional war movie due to its downbeat subject and is more educational than entertaining, but it’s a necessary piece of the puzzle in understanding WW2. If you appreciate movies like "Enemy at the Gates" (2001), "The Pianist" (2002), "Black Book" (2006), "Valkyrie" (2008), "Rommel" (2012), "Warsaw '44" (2014) and "Fury" (2014), you’ll appreciate…

Though he might not much like the compliment, Bruno Ganz is superb as the Führer in this dramatisation of his last few days in Berlin. If you saw George Schaefer’s attempt at this, with Anthony Hopkins in the title role (1981) then you’ll already have the gist of what occurs, but this has an altogether less dramatic, more natural, feel to it. It helps, of course, that those of us watching know now just how precarious his situation was, but for him surrounded as he was by yes men, Ganz portrays a man who genuinely believes the war is there to win. None of his acolytes have the courage to tell…