Went and saw "Downfall" last night. Still slightly numb . . . .

It was very possibly the best historical move I've ever seen, absolutely overwhelming. Bruno Ganz's performance is amazing, and it was at least as claustrophobic and intense as "Das Boot", if not more so.

If you're thinking about seeing it, hurry. I have a nagging feeling that it won't be around too much longer, given Americans' taste in movies, and it's something that needs to be seen in a theater. Just don't expect to be humming the songs when the show ends.

I have a hunch that the local Blockbuster won't be carrying it at some future date...

And other cinematic masterworks! :puke: Blockbuster - feh!

Hitler in a somewhat sympathetic light.

. . . blaming the Jews, the Germans, the generals, the Nazi Party, the Allies, everyone but himself for a world in flames as the corpses pile up from Poland to Prague to Poznan.

But he also comes across as a hobbling, shambling old man, pathetically detached from reality, making small talk with his secretaries one minute and foaming at the mouth the next as he orders another execution. I don't think that's really a sympathetic portrayal, merely realistic.

If we turn monsters into cartoons, we forget that they're human beings, and that the next monster to come down the pike will be just another human being.

I got the chills the first time I heard Hitler during the movie. The look was incredible but the sound of his voice was unmistakable. I don't feel he came off as sympathetic but was played as a human as shown in his relationship with his dog and Eva Braun.

I think the most terrifying character in the film was Magda Goebbels. Her devotion to Hitler and her actions during the movie were disgusting but justified in her character.

The documentary about Traudl Junge, Blind Spot, is a very interesting first hand account of the Third Reich.

This might've won the Best Foreign Picture any year but this year with The Sea Inside. That was an absolutely amazing, incredibly emotional film. Both are recommended.

Traudl Junge died either the day of or the day before the documentary premiered in Berlin - another weird coincidence.