der untergang DOWNFALL (1 Viewer)

This great movie comes out Tuesday in the US. Its a 1 disc with few extras running time 156 minutes.

I hear a Euro version is available 2 disc with longer running time (around 180 minutes). A friend of mine picked one up at a history convention back East last week.

I just ordered a multi-region player (looking forward to this). Anyone else have any news on this movie. Input is greatly appreciated.

regards
Pat Roberts
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The German 2-Disc Premium edition contains the theatrical version. Review: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDRev...ll-premium.htm

The longer version is not released yet.
The film was co-produced by major german/austrian/italian TV-channels. The extended TV-version (2 parts x 90 minutes) will probably shown at the end of the year. Expect a DVD-release in 2006.

Me too, Ron. I'll definitely be picking it up.

- Steve

Great film, one of the best from last year.

Bruno Ganz puts in an amazing performance.

I saw this movie a while back with English subtitles. It's one the best movies about Hitler that I've seen. No over-the-top attempt at making Hitler look bad. Just a matter of fact portrayal of the scenes based on Traudl Junge's (Hitler's stenographer) account of the Third Reich's "last stand" that took place in the now infamous "Bunker". The only other film that I can remember that showed such an accurate, personal view of Hitler, was "Inside the Third Reich", based on Albert Speers book. However, "Inside the Third Reich" wasn't as well made as "Der Utergang - Downfall". (although I'm still a Rutger Hauer fan. )

The only review up so far is from DVD Town, and it gives high marks for picture and sound quality, as well as for the making-of featurette and the director's commentary. It wasn't clear to me from the beginning that there would be a commentary--I think it wasn't mentioned in the initial press release--so it's good to get confirmation that it's there, and worth listening to as well!

Saw this film several months ago and it was simply outstanding. I shouldn't say this, but I highly doubt the film that beat this one for Best Foreign Film could come even close to this one. Bruno Ganz delivers one of the most outstanding performances I have ever seen. He's powerful and believable.

The production values are especially high, and you are taken to the ravaged streets and crumpled buildings of encircled Berlin.

It's top of my netflix queue as I just missed it in the cinema - it finished playing the day before I could go catch it, been desperate to see it since then.

Some friends of mine who caught this were completely blown away by it. I was planning on tentatively waiting for that mooted longer edition, but since the Region 1 has a commentary I'll be picking it up very soon. Looking forward to feedback on the movie from others here (I still haven't seen it yet).

Very recently BBC released two excellent documentaries on DVD.

Nazis – A Warning from History which tells the story of the Nazi party from the beginning to the end.

D-Day to Berlin which tells the chronological events that happened from D-Day to the end of the WWII. Both excellent documentaries where you get a good view of the events that happened.

Anyway all this to say that I saw both just a week ago and I’m completely ready for this movie! And not to mention that you shouldn’t miss these 2 documentaries.

I'm excited to hear that the DVD does in fact include an audio commentary from the director; "Downfall" is a sprawling masterpiece, and one of the most powerful war films of recent years. I certainly look forward to picking this up.



I agree, his work in "Downfall" is almost without peer; Ganz creates a brave and complex portrayal of Hitler, giving him human characteristics, not allowing the audience to resort to the standard objectification that is often associated with this figure. Bruno Ganz is almost always an interesting actor, in films both great ("Wings of Desire"), and unsuccessful ("Especially on Sunday"). His performance in "Downfall" helps to impart that film with a chilling specificity.

That would be The Sea Inside.

It's a very good film (although I do have a few issues with it) and Javier Bardem gives a performance worthy of an Oscar nomination (he didn't receive one) - but I have to say that Downfall is the better film.

quote:
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Bruno Ganz delivers one of the most outstanding performances I have ever seen. He's powerful and believable.
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In past movies I've seen about Hitler, I always felt I was watching an "actor" play Hitler. In watching Ganz, I thought I was watching "Hitler".

"Blind Spot" was a good film, though perhaps a bit methodical (the picture brings new meaning to the term "talking head"), and would make a nice companion piece to "Downfall." I haven't seen "Blind Spot" since it played in theaters a couple of years ago, so perhaps I will revisit this in light of the DVD release of "Downfall."

As for "The Sea Inside," while it is a strong movie filled with convincing performances, director Alejandro Amenabar is unable to lift the story from its more commonplace trappings and elevate it to a level of true emotional conviction. It, like the aforementioned "Blind Spot," is a little too methodical for its own good, mired in solemnity and mechanical detail. Despite its flaws, Amenabar's film does attain transcendence in one particular scene (which I won't reveal), and the operatic grace communicated there is so overwhelming that it consequently shames the rest of the movie.

Very true. The story she tells is so compelling that the cinematic aspects are almost irrelevant.

If it's the scene that I'm thinking of, then I completely agree. It's far and away the best scene in the film - and one of the best scenes in 2004.

Back to Downfall, as someone mentioned regarding Bruno Ganz's performance - it felt like I was watching Hitler himself. It's not often that I forget that the character is being portrayed by an actor - and that it's not the real person.