Question: Pay attention to the portrayal of Hitler and one other character of your choosing. Describe how they are portrayed, with emphasis on the how: in other words, describe not only the final effect of their portrayal, but the things the filmmakers do in order to create that portrayal, such as lighting, camera angles and shot selection, background/setting, clothing, color choices, sound effects and music, and so on.
In addition to narrative elements (plot and dialogue), films have visual and auditory elements that lend to the overall impression. You don’t need to be a professional film critic in order to talk about them; you just need to reflect on what impressions they create in you, the viewer.
Answer: In the first nine chapters of the movie Downfall, the beginning of the end of the war starts. There is no narrator, but we see a lot of the story from the point of view of Traudl Humps Junge, who became Hitler’s youngest secretary. By the end of the ninth chapter, Hitler and other important personnel are taking shelter in an underground bunker. Hitler starts off the movie as a confident authoritative figure, but ends this first section by exploding on his army officials and admitting that the war is lost.
Hitler is first seen when he is “interviewing” Traudl Humps Junge to be his secretary. He seems very collected at this point. When Traudl is about to take the typewriting test, he admits to her that he makes many mistakes when ruling, so she doesn’t need to worry about making a few mistakes. This was interesting to me, because the way that everyone regarded Hitler, and how he presented himself, he seemed to be one that never made mistakes, let alone admitted to them. I think the director of the movie made an interesting point by including this scene, maybe it is a part of the film that has no historical fact since I find it hard to believe Hitler would “make mistakes” in his own mind.
As the movie continues, the destruction of Berlin worsens. Hitler tries to find a way to make all of his ranks defeat the Russians as they close in, but the officials he speaks to constantly try to tell him there is no way. At this point, we see that Hitler is becoming completely disillusioned. In a previous scene, we see Hitler talking with Speer in a room with a huge model of Germany after the war. Obviously, Hitler still thought victory was a possibility at this point. Soon after however, he learns that he has no way to keep the Russians out of Berlin. He explodes on specific officials in a small room, showing his complete loss of control. You can see all the officials sweating furiously with looks of absolute terror on their faces. Once they see that their master has lost control and admitted defeat, they know they have no hope. One official even puts his hand over his chest/heart when Hitler says out loud that the war is lost. This shows that even if the officials subconsciously thought the war was lost, they did not admit it until Hitler confirmed it. Hitler appeared old and stressed from the beginning of the film, but as he realizes that he has lost the war, his shaking becomes uncontrollable, he sweats constantly, his hair is disheveled, and he only talks by yelling erratically. The director does a fantastic job of portraying Hitler’s personal downfall, not just the downfall of the Third Reich. It was obvious in the beginning of the movie that he was cool, calm and collected. Once the film skips two and a half years ahead, Hitler has aged considerably and is teetering on the edge of absolute insanity. He thinks his officials have been deceiving him the whole war, just because one flank lost too many men and could not follow his order. He thinks he does not need to evacuate the city because the people do not “have the right” to live if the war is lost. He thinks his model of Germany after the war is won will be possible, particularly that it will be an intellectual city, which obviously is a complete vision in his head. The officials even start to question all of his orders and commands because they know that he has lost all sight of reality.
A second character that interested me in the first nine chapters of the film was Ernst-Günther Schenck. He is first shown when soldiers are throwing all of the books and records out the windows to burn them. His first concern is feeding the people if everyone leaves. When the rest of the officials are evacuating, he demands to be allowed to stay in Berlin. When he is left with one other man, he thinks about going somewhere else, somewhere that he could be of use. Along the way to offer help, he sees soldiers beating up two elderly men that were deserters. He tried to stop the men, but the soldier in charge shot both of the elders. This scene showed that Schenck still had some regard for human life and still had a sense of right from wrong. When he gets a call to come help wounded soldiers and civilians, he is dismayed at the sight he encounters. Even when he was warned not to enter an area that was newly claimed Russian territory, he does it anyway to see if he can help anyone inside. All he sees is a pile of dead people and a room filled with elderly women. While the movie doesn’t elaborate about what he does, you can see the worry and fear in his face. He is one of the only characters, probably the only one besides Hermann Fegelein, that shows remorse and sympathy for what has happened. When he gets to an underground bunker where a ton of people are seeking shelter, he sees children crying, wounded people, old people, dead people, people with bandaged stubs, and finally a person getting a limb cut off. This scene shows the terror in everyone’s faces as they pretty much are just awaiting their death. It shows how worried Schenck is, he is profusely sweating, wide-eyed, and speechless at the sight he is witnessing. Many people are covering their mouths, which could be because of germs, but more likely because of the stench that is overtaking the room they are in. It is certain that there are dead people in that room, and people bleeding out everywhere, so it probably smelled terrible. Schenck goes to cover his mouth, but doesn’t really try that hard because he is so shocked by this scene. While this would be a normal reaction for most people, it was an interesting reaction for a Nazi. He was so concerned and overwhelmed by everything that was going on, he seemed lost. While other officials probably would have acted like nothing was wrong, since they were the architects of concentrations camps they had seen worse, Schenck actually showed emotion. I am interested to see how his character develops throughout the rest of the film.
