shake Speer’s hand when he leaves. At dinner, Hitler flies into a rage when he dis-
covers that Himmler has colluded with Count Folke Bernadotte to work out the
terms of Hitler’s surrender. Hitler demands that von Greim and his mistress, test
pi lot Hanna Reitsch (Anna Thalbach), retrieve Himmler and his adjutant, Hermann
Fegelein (Thomas Kretschmann). Upon finding out that Fegelein has deserted,
Hitler orders his execution. Reichsphysician SS Ernst- Robert Grawitz (Christian
Hoening), the head of the German Red Cross who infamously performed human
medical experiments for the Nazis, begs Hitler’s permission to leave Berlin.
When Hitler denies his request, Grawitz kills himself along with his family by
setting off a pair of hand grenades over dinner. That night, Fegelein is arrested
and executed. Mohnke reports that the Red Army is only 300 to 400 meters
from the Reich Chancellery. Hitler reassures his officers that he’ll order Gen.
Walther Wenck’s 12th Army to break off from the Western Front and march east
to join the fight against the Soviets—an absurd, unworkable proposition. After
midnight (29 April 1945), Hitler communicates his last will and testament to
Traudl and then marries Eva Braun as a show of gratitude for her loyalty. Fi nally
accepting that the situation is hopeless, Hitler decides to commit suicide to avoid
capture. Hitler consumes a last meal and says his goodbyes. He hands his Golden
Party Badge Number 1 to Magda Goebbels, who pleads with Hitler to flee Berlin.
Instead, Hitler remains and kills himself off- screen. Eva Braun also commits sui-
cide. Their bodies are carried out of the bunker and cremated in a shell crater in
the Chancellery garden. Magda and Joseph Goebbels follow suit, murdering their
own children and killing themselves off- screen. Military staff members evacuate
the bunker, but Krebs and Burgdorf also give in to suicide. Weidling broadcasts to
the city that Hitler is dead and declares that he will be seeking an immediate cease-
fire. Traudl, Gerda, and the remaining SS troops join Schenck, Mohnke, and
Günsche as they try to flee the city. Meanwhile, the child soldiers have all been
killed— except for Peter, who discovers that his parents have been executed. With
Red Army soldiers approaching, Traudl decides to leave the bunker. She and Peter
join up and make their way through the ruined streets, avoiding Rus sian soldiers. At
a bridge, Peter finds a discarded bicycle. They both get on it— Peter sitting “side
saddle” on the top tube while Traudl pedals— and the pair bicycle away from Berlin.
An epilogue describes the fates of the other Führerbunker inhabitants, and the film
ends with a final excerpt from Heller’s documentary.
Reception
Downfall premiered in Munich on 8 September 2004 and went into wide release
in Germany and Austria a week later. The movie was also showcased at a number
of international film festivals, and an extended version was shown in two parts on
German tele vi sion in October 2005. Final box office numbers were impressive;
Downfall made $93.6 million against an estimated production cost of €13.5 mil-
lion ($15.9 million). The film also garnered many film awards, including a 2005
Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year. Reviews were mostly
positive; many were adulatory. Hitler biographer Ian Kershaw exemplified affirma-
tive opinion when he extolled the film as a “superb reconstruction” and avowed
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