The Bunker
Academy Award-winner Anthony Hopkins stars as Adolf Hitler in the last weeks of his life, struggling to maintain order as he loses control of his country, his people and finally his own mind. It is January 1945 when Hitler descends into a bunker beneath the Chancellery in Berlin. With the Russians advancing on one front and the British and Americans on the other, he must rely on the few men and women loyal to the Nazi cause: his chief architect Albert Speer (Richard Jordan), Martin Bormann (Michael Lonsdale), Joseph Goebbels (Cliff Gorman) and the mistress who became Hitler's wife in the bunker, Eva Braun (Susan Blakely).
In a powerful Emmy Award-winning performance, Hopkins portrays Hitler over the 105 days of his decline. With the Third Reich crumbling around him, as he rages against those of his supporters now turning against him, in the final hours before the Allied troops swarm into Berlin, Germany's leader must make a choice between surrender and suicide.
Member Reviews
An Inside Look At The Last Days Of Hitler And The Third Reich - revsdd
If you're interested in the history of the Third Reich, you have to watch this movie. The Third Reich was a land of insanity from its very beginning. That insanity increased as time went on, and this movie offers a pretty good look at its last days, as Hitler and his entourage hole themselves up in a bunker underneath the Reich Chancellory and act as if they're actually accomplishing something, even as Germany is being systematically overrun by Allied armies.
Of most interest are the various performances and the manner in which the various personalities are portrayed. Anthony Hopkins was excellent as Hitler, capturing the emotional complexity of the man well, and having the look down pat. Richard Jordan's Albert Speer perhaps came across as a bit too noble in his efforts to stop Hitler. He only decided the stop Hitler when it became obvious Germany would lose the war. To that point, he had willingly gone along with the evils of Nazism. Cliff Gorman didn't really work well for me as Joseph Goebbels, although he captured Goebbels' fanatical devotion to Hitler, his rabid anti-semitism and his cold as ice personality, which led him to kill his own family rather than have them live in a Germany without Hitler. Martin Lonsdale was quite good as the shadowy Martin Bormann, whose main preoccupation was with power and escape.
I particularly liked the last scene of this movie, when the machinist Hentschel (Martin Jarvis) throws papers in disgust at the radio when it announces Hitler's heroic death, "fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism," when Hentschel knew full well that Hitler had cowardly committed suicide and left everyone else to fend for themselves. This was overall a very interesting portrayal of a rather difficult subject.
Member Reviews
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An Inside Look At The Last Days Of Hitler And The Third Reich - revsdd
If you're interested in the history of the Third Reich, you have to watch this movie. The Third Reich was a land of insanity from its very beginning. That insanity increased as time went on, and this movie offers a pretty good look at its last days, as Hitler ...