Downfall

Nominated for a 2004 best foreign-language film Oscar, director Oliver Hirschbiegel's gripping account of Adolf Hitler's ignominious end is a historical reenactment that hits like a swift kick to the gut. Berlin, 1945. With Soviet forces just outside the city, Hitler (Bruno Ganz, in a frightening, career-capping performance) ignores the urgings of his closest advisors to flee and withdraws to his heavily fortified bunker beneath Berlin's blasted streets. He refuses to admit it, but Hitler's glorious thousand-year Reich is crumbling, and so is his mind. Convinced that he's been betrayed by those he trusted most, Hitler takes what comfort he can in the idolaters who ga...