A HUGE EXTRAVAGANZA
BY LOIS WADSWORTH
OF TREMENDOUSLY
Bruno Ganz as Adolf Hitler.
FUNNY WOMEN
WYMPROV!
Central Presbyterian
Church of Eugene, OR
welcomes you to our
“Growing from our Roots”
150 th Anniversary
Friday, April 29 @ 7pm
with
HAMAZONS
FROM
featuring the sweet voices of the youth choir of
I GLESIA OF C RISTO -M AHANAIM
A SHLAND
Surrealistic
Down in the bunker with Hitler.
DOWNFALL:
Directed by Oliver Hirshbiegel.
Written and produced by Bernd Eichinger, based on Inside
Hitler’s Bunker by Joachim Fest and Until the Final Hour
by Traudl Junge and Melissa Muller. Cinematography,
Rainer Klausmann. Edited by Hans Funck. Music, Stephan
Zacharias. Production design, Bernd Lepel. Costumes,
Claudia Bobsin. Starring Bruno Ganz. With Alexandra
Maria Lara, Juliane Kohler, Corinna Harfouch, Ulrich
Mattes, Also, Heino Ferch, Christian Berkel, Thomas
Kretschmann, Ulrich Noethen, Gotz Otto, Andre Hennicke
and Donevan Gunia. Newmarket Films, 2004. R. 148 min-
utes. 2004 Academy Award nomination for foreign
language film.
D
ownfall creates a memorable,
claustrophobic impression of what
took place in Adolf Hitler’s bunker
60 feet below the German Chancellery in
Berlin, 1945, as Russia’s Red Army
approached the city center. As a medium,
film offers us vivid images that embody his-
torical figures, and we observe realistic re-
enactments of events, complete with the rich
and pedestrian details of daily life. Film
grants immediacy to long ago events and
turns the famous or infamous into partici-
pants. Here Swiss actor Bruno Ganz (Wings
of Desire) indelibly characterizes Adolf
Hitler, making him personally repulsive,
shallow and needy, and yet expressing his
vulnerability and rare kindness.
Image and performance tempt us to iden-
tify with the movie’s sympathetic characters
and to recognize as human the machinations
of those Nazis who spent the last days of the
Third Reich trying to save their own skin (or
their reputations).
Should movie audiences see such monsters
as human even briefly? Artistic freedom says
yes; we are all flawed. Should the filmmakers
or audience extend sympathy to the historic
murderers who embraced Nazism and the
Final Solution? No. We can and should see
portrayals such as this, yet we must never for-
get the monumental culpability of the criminal
Nazi regime nor forgive its participants for the
evil they did to millions of people.
Under the right conditions each of us can
behave monstrously. Murderers reflect human
nature’s shadow side. But being human also
means resisting such impulses. In Downfall,
the state has marshaled its paranoid power
impulses against those perceived as enemies.
For the ones who implemented Nazism’s
policies of genocide, there is no clean place to
stand. For those who watched, going along to
get along demands a price be paid.
Downfall is an excellent war film set amid
the battered ruins of Berlin and its scattered
battles. As the Allies closed in on the citadel
of power, Hitler and his generals in the gray-
walled bunker knew they would receive no
mercy from the Russians, who would reach
the city before the other armies. Hitler’s ter-
minal madness — a pathetic attempt to hold
onto the remnants of his empire — speaks to
the times, as does the relentless, haphazard
murder of German citizens by fervent SS in
the streets. Inside the bunker and outside mir-
rored the same pathology. Both were trapped
between the pincers of advancing armies.
The story is narrated by Traudl Junge
(Alexandra Maria Lara), Hitler’s secretary
from late 1942 until April 1945. She took his
last statement and testimonial. Junge herself
speaks in a documentary segment near the
end of the film. She does not ask for forgive-
ness nor understanding, although she
reminds us she was just 22 when her Fuehrer
selected her. Junge acknowledges that she
could have learned what was going on if she
had wanted to know. In our heavily mediated
culture it’s hard to believe one could live in
wartime Germany and not know, especially
someone in her privileged position. Junge
gives us the key to the puzzle: You know
something is wrong, but you don’t know
what, exactly. And you don’t ask.
Eva Braun (Juliane Kohler) expresses dis-
appointment when she’s unable to persuade
her husband to spare the life of her sbrother-
in-law, Herman Fegelein (Thomas
Kretschmann). Minister of the Interior
Heinrich Himmler (Ulrich Noethen) sees his
boss has lost his mind and starts negotiating
with Supreme Allied Commander Dwight
Eisenhower for surrender terms. Hitler
entrusts his personal aide, Otto (Gotz Otto),
with disposing of his and Eva’s bodies by fire
following their suicides. Otto also fires the
bodies of Hitler’s malefic, influential
Minister of Propaganda, Josef Goebbels
(Ulrich Matthes), and his icy, party loyalist
wife Magda (Corinna Harfouch), a murderer
herself. We first meet 13-year-old Peter
Granz (Donevan Gunia) as a Hitler Youth
pinched on the cheek by the Fuehrer. Peter
makes several quick appearances in the film,
including one very near the end.
Complex, morally complicated and rivet-
ing, Downfall is compelling filmmaking.
Opens at the Bijou Friday with my highest
recommendations.
ew
NEWMARKET FILMS, 2004
SATURDAY, APRIL 30 • 8 PM
WOW HALL
Come be a part of this FREE event!
On Sat., April 30, @ 1pm, join Central and the
George Family as we break ground for their
Habitat for Humanity house - 5440 E St. Spfd.
For more info, contact:
8TH & LINCOLN
Michael Omogrosso: 607-8199 • omo@efn.org
WOW Hall and Mother Kali’s Books
Central Presbyterian: 345-8724
centralpresbyterianchurh@att.net
Tickets are $15 and available at:
’ t
D o J n us t
S t a y H o me
Cinema Sensibilities on Disability
Hollywood Dearest
Choreography & Dance
by Lane Students
Thursday, April 21, 7-9 pm, 175 LAW
PANEL DISCUSSION:
Access Issues in the Cinema
THREE FILMS:
“The Scary Lewis Yell-a-thon”
DIRECTORS : Donna Nudd,
Diane Wilkins
“Mayor of the West Side”
DIRECTOR : Kelli English
“Annie Dearest:
The Real Miracle Worker”
DIRECTORS : Terry Galloway, Donna
Nudd, Diane Wilkins
L O UD , P R O U D
A ND
F E MA LE
Friday, April 22, 7-9:30 pm, 175 LAW
PANEL DISCUSSION:
Film Making and Representation
in the Media
8 pm
Thursday, April 21
Friday, April 22
Saturday, April 23
Buy tickets at the door
$6 adults
$5 students/seniors
463-5202
Lane Community College
Main Campus, Bldg. 6
Performance Hall
FOUR FILMS:
“Independent Little Cuss”
DIRECTOR : Jeff Patterson
“Loud, Proud, and Prosperous”
DIRECTOR : Dana Vion
“Beyond Disability: The Fe Fe Stories”
DIRECTOR : Salome Chasnoff
Clips from “Birds of a Feather”
DIRECTOR : BJo Ashwill
N o t De a d Y et
S aturday, April 23
7-9 pm, DIVA, 110 West Broadway
“Film Talk” at DIVA
Don’t Just Stay Home!
Come speak out about
Creating a space of possibility
for humanity to evolve to
a higher consciousness.
• Death with Dignity
Volunteers needed in co-creating a
global evolution revolution. For those
who believe in the concepts of love,
oneness, unity, and the power of creation.
Open to all faiths, ages and beliefs.
Be the change you wish to see in the world.
• Who Says What Kind of
Life is Worth Living?
3 RD THURSDAY MEETING
For a complete list of panel contacts,
topics, and films:
Deborah Olson, 346-2483
April 21 • 7-9pm
Spiritual Growth Center
390 Vernal Street
• Terri Schiavo
• “Million Dollar Baby”
http://education.uoregon.edu/content/1450
FREE ASL interpreted event
EXPANDING LIFE CREATING CHANGE
(Coburg Rd. to Rustic to Vernal. By Baja Fresh)
LET’S TALK “INDIGO”
FUN • GROWTH • REFRESHMENTS
FREE
www.humanitysteameugene.com
APRIL 21, 2005 23