Downfall (Çöküş)

Downfall (Der Untergang) is a 2004 historical war drama directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel from a screenplay by Bernd Eichinger, produced as a German-Austrian-Italian co-production. The film recounts Adolf Hitler's final days in April 1945, as the Battle of Berlin rages and Nazi Germany faces certain collapse, confining much of its action to the underground bunker beneath the capital. Events unfold largely through the perspective of Hitler's private secretary Traudl Junge, with the screenplay drawing on historian Joachim Fest's book, Junge's memoirs and other survivor accounts of the period. Unable to accept defeat, Hitler refuses to leave the city, marries Eva Braun in his last hours and dies by suicide together with her; devoted followers such as Joseph and Magda Goebbels meet the same end. Bruno Ganz portrays Hitler, supported by Alexandra Maria Lara, Corinna Harfouch, Ulrich Matthes, Juliane Köhler and Thomas Kretschmann. Its decision to depict a human dimension of Hitler provoked debate, yet the film earned over 92 million dollars worldwide and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 77th Academy Awards. Several sequences later inspired countless internet parodies.