The movie depicts Nazi Germany in its final days and hours, which is fine. But I could not help but feel something bubbling beneath the surface. Angry resentment.
Downfall, as the name directly implies, is supposedly about the end of the war that destroyed Germany. But that is not quite it. Even the word “downfall” depicts not the end of something bad, but the end of something good, and the beginning of something bad. Downfall is about the beginning of Germany’s century of humiliation.
Most of the footage depicting Russians was cut from the theatrical release and that was probably for the best because it comes off as really bitter. In one deleted scene a German survivor watches Russian women rummage through Hitler’s bunker to loot the German frauleins’ underwear.
This moment conveys a pretty radical and heartfelt message. The humiliation of dirty subhuman Russians trampling around the Reich’s glorious capital was worse than anything in the war itself.
In time, Hitler could and would have been forgiven for everything. But what he could not ever be forgiven for was losing.
Ian Kummer
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Could you elaborate a bit? Most people know the film from the bunker memes, so I’m interested in a more serious discussion of it.