This film depicts the last days of Nazi Germany when the Soviet army was 15 km from Hitler’s bunker Fuhrerbunker. Most WW2 movies focus on the battles from a soldier’s perspective, but this is from the perspective of Hitler’s secretary, Traudl Junge. She was still alive in 2002 and talked about events surrounding the last days of battle for Berlin before the suicides by Hitler and his mistress (wife then) Eva Braun. Most events are historically accurate based on all accounts, including from Junge’s autobiography.

The film captured a sense of realism through its dark, gritty atmosphere, direction, acting, and cinematography. To prepare, the actor (Bruno Ganz) playing Hitler studied the literature, accounts, and surviving media surrounding Hitler, including a recording of his normal talking tone away from cameras. Hitler didn’t allow such recordings, but Finnish secret agents recorded a private conversation in 1942 for later study. All other recordings were of his public speeches, which is not how he talked or behaved in private. Ganz also studied Parkinson’s patients to get an idea of Hitler, who had Parkinson’s. Some scenes were cold and brutal to watch but factual, including a scene by Nazi fanatic Magda Goebbels (wife of Nazi propaganda minister Goebbels) murdering her six children over her fear of living in a world without Nazism. Another is a scene of Hitler moving around pieces representing his army divisions on a map. His generals were too scared to tell him the armies were no more. Once a fanatic accepts belief in an ideal or an individual, they cannot exist outside it.

The scariest lesson is one can be a monster while completely human, as we saw here. I think it’s letting Hitler off the hook to pretend he was some peculiar demon or just a lunatic who had lost control of himself. It’s only when you realize Hitler was human and in complete control of his faculties to his final breath that the real horrors begin. The truth is villains are not anything other than human, the worst of humanity. The difference here is power dynamics and Germans enabling his bigotry and hatred by falling prey to his frantic fanaticism. History, time and time again going back to the first civilizations, teaches us Hitler is what you get when you combine the worst of humanity with absolute power. It should make us wary of those seeking absolute power while claiming to be above the laws. Power allows humanity’s worst villains to come creeping to the surface. The best AND the worst in humanity lies within humanity itself. There is a constant battle waging within each of us, one between love & hate, joy & misery, peace & fury, courage & fear, and order & chaos. We should always be vigilant to keep ourselves and others from falling prey to the worst in us.

Would I recommend this? Yes. The film is in German, but the subtitles are adequate. It’s difficult to watch, but I think it’s important to understand what fanatical hate and blind devotion to an idea/individual left unchecked can do to people.