Downfall (2005)

I guess this was inevitable; being that Oliver Hirschbiegel's previous Das Experiment attempted to deal, however unsuccessfully, with the spectre of Nazism in modern-day Germany, it was only a matter of time before he got around to making a film about Hitler. Surprise, surprise: it's actually not that bad. Hirschbiegel doesn't show much in the way of a distinctive sensibility, but he does keep the film from getting bogged down in historical logorrhea. Bruno Ganz is good enough for government work as ol' Adolph, and the supporting cast is also not too bad. At its best, it's a riveting maelstrom of a period in which history didn't so much flow as it did splay in twenty directions at once, like a bug hitting a windshield. At other times, it's like the longest History Channel special ever made. So knock that grade up a couple of ticks if you dig the all-Hitler-all-the-time antics of that channel. Me, I'm still suffering WWII-documentary burnout.

Grade: B-