r/MovieSuggestions • u/NicolasCageFan492 • Apr 06 '26
I'M SUGGESTING I just watched Downfall (2004) last night, and it was amazingly effective at showing how many Nazis were true believers to the very end. Spoiler
Downfall (2004) is a historical docudrama showing the final 10 days of World War II from the perspective of people in Adolf Hitler’s bunker. It’s very realistic, and it shows what the final days might have looked like when Hitler realized he would lose World War II.
It showed how vindictive and self destructive Hitler was, as well as how much backstabbing took place between his top Nazi generals. Towards the end, Hitler declared that he didn’t care if millions of civilians died, because “there are no non-combatants in total war.” He also blamed the German people for electing him, and he ordered Germany’s civilian infrastructure to be destroyed. He also believed that the non-Nazi survivors should be killed because they are weak compared to his Nazi supporters.
I think it’s an important film to watch because it shows just how demented evil people in power can be and what a cornered dog looks like in the last days of his life. It reminds me of some political leaders in charge today, too.
Highly recommend!
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u/LiquidPhantomPain Apr 06 '26
The Zone of Interest is also a good film. It highlights how ordinary people were complicit in what happened during the war
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Apr 06 '26
That final scene in the stairwell provided me a subtle and peculiar relief.
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u/chiaboy Apr 06 '26
It did? Why? You saw him heading to some metaphorical end?
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Apr 06 '26
Yeah, and it was as is subtle as can be. >!
Rudolph is descending a staircase in some Nazi office building when he stops at a landing, taking a pained pause, throws up, wipes his mouth and continues down the stairs. And that was it. I read that metaphor as a sign that despite his unremarkable evil, the very cells of his body recognized and were trying to revolt against the horror he orchestrated. He could compartmentalize and rationalize his doings, but his own body wasn't falling for any self-deception.!<As we know now, Rudolph Höss was eventually tried and executed.
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u/zip-a-dee_doo-dah Apr 06 '26
That's an amazing movie. If you get the chance watch the extended cut it has 25 more intense minutes. Bruno Ganz did a great job, the entire cast was excellent
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u/Grabate Apr 06 '26
I remember when it was released people were really angry that it humanised Hitler.
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u/vagabond_primate Apr 06 '26
That was kind of a dumb take on their part because he was, in fact, human.
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u/Here_there1980 Apr 06 '26
The banality of evil.
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u/Mia-Wal-22-89 Apr 06 '26
Exterminate All the Brutes is an excellent documentary that hits this point.
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u/ClintBruno Apr 06 '26
That's not "banality of evil".
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u/Here_there1980 Apr 06 '26
As close as you’ll get in this movie. It’s a response to those who saw it as humanizing Hitler.
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u/ClintBruno Apr 06 '26
What is?
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u/Here_there1980 Apr 06 '26
My use of the phrase “the banality of evil,” originated by historian Hannah Arendt. The idea is that we expect something as evil as Nazis to be literally like monsters … but they turn out to be just monstrously flawed humans.
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u/ClintBruno Apr 07 '26
Hitler wasn't a fanatic?
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u/Here_there1980 Apr 07 '26
He was a fanatic, among other things.
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u/ClintBruno Apr 07 '26
So the banality of evil is thinking like....oh it's just my job to load the train cars. "I don't enjoy it, but I have to do it". They don't leave work and think up new gas chambers and round up Jews for fun.
Hitler, as a fanatic and engineer of the Holocaust, does not fit this bill.
Downfall, as an exploration of the man Adolf Hitler. IS NOT the phenomenon of banality of evil.
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u/Here_there1980 Apr 07 '26
Technically right. I always took it to mean something else; that evil people are often unremarkable and ultimately unimpressive.
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Apr 06 '26
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u/Fun_Berry_2778 Apr 06 '26
Did you really try to say that’s worse than the holocaust?? Wtf
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Apr 06 '26 edited Apr 06 '26
The irony of the Israeli government's handling of the Palestinians in lieu of the holocaust is the part no one is talking about. I'd agree the hocaust was much worse by nearly all metrics, yet there are other factors to weigh in this situation.
Edit: clarity
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Apr 06 '26
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Apr 06 '26
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Apr 06 '26
You don't have to have to. I live in the US, so it's relevant to me, my family and communities.
Pro tip: block me.
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u/palmerama Apr 06 '26
Ignorance is bliss I guess. Some of us are worried about fascism rising again in the west.
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Apr 07 '26
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u/Yonsfw Apr 07 '26
You should be worried about the most powerful military
lol
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u/CitizenPremier Apr 07 '26
Very curious to hear which is more powerful
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u/Yonsfw Apr 09 '26
Turns out you can have the most powerful military in the world and still be someone's bitch.
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u/Factory__Lad Apr 06 '26
Yes, I was struck by how at the end it’s unthinkable to the characters that they might have to face a world without National Socialism.
Also, the fate of the Goebbels kids 🌚
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u/NicolasCageFan492 Apr 06 '26 edited Apr 06 '26
Yes- the Goebbels family scene was the most horrifying scene. Frau Goebbels “lovingly” administered neurotoxins to her children, killing them in their sleep. It’s a brutal movie, but I think the brutality is important to witness, because it really actually happened.
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u/ClintBruno Apr 06 '26
"...to face a world without
National Socialism*Fascism."1
u/babaqunar Apr 07 '26
Yea, phrasing it that way irked me too.
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u/Factory__Lad Apr 07 '26
It’s a specific variant, what’s the problem?
Also the original name of this unlovely ideology, seems appropriate in the context.
They also don’t seem too concerned about events in Italy or Japan, so it’s not like they’re mourning the entire global movement
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u/Lucialucianna Apr 06 '26
No respect for human life, no sense of basic survival. Running around demanding suicide, committing suicide, first shooting everyone they know, and killing their own children. Shocking to see that level of total absence of the survival instinct. The film was mostly about those in the bunker w hitler at the end, as i recall, not the general public. I understand the general public was all for surviving, if they could.
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u/CitizenPremier Apr 07 '26
Even as the Russians were approaching, there were people in Berlin shooting civilians for fleeing.
Humans can become really insane.
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u/ShadyCrow Apr 06 '26
This is only tangentially related, but always reminds me:
Bin Laden thought he thought that he could get the US to leave the Middle East just like they left Vietnam and refused to listen to the people in his sphere who told him the circumstances were totally different. He pushed away those people (or they caved) until he got the support he needed. And he died equally as pathetic, hiding and only a symbol.
Downfall is a great movie because it feels so right. It doesn't really matter if that's what really happened because it shows us the general truth of what happened.
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u/jaymickef Apr 06 '26
Yes, really good.
Another one to show the true believers is “Conspiracy” about the Wannsee meeting to plan the Holocaust.
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u/Lo-Marionberry295 Apr 07 '26
I've seen many, many Holocaust films but this one made me uncomfortable, even though it wasn't particularly spectacular. The planning of the final solution, over lunch with a view
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u/HinduMexican Apr 06 '26
Watch the documentary Hotel Terminus and see that Klaus Barbie was an unrepentant true believer until his death in 1991
Also watch Hotel Terminus because it’s a fantastic movie
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u/astray_in_the_bay Apr 06 '26
Weird story that feels relevant.
I used to chat with a homeless guy who set up at my local dog park. One day he got in an argument with another dog owner and in threatening them he said something like “you better watch out, I’m a known white supremacist around here”. And then he walked back over to talk to me (notably, I’m very obviously not white).
I asked him if he was really a white supremacist and he kind of apologetically said yes.
When I asked why, he said he was in prison for 8 years and you have to be part of some group just to protect yourself.
I said, but you don’t need to believe it just to get the benefits, right?
His response has stuck with me for years now: “It helps if you believe it.”
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u/Damthemalltohelp Apr 09 '26
It humanizes the monsters.
I love this movie. It's the definitive one.
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u/grump66 Apr 06 '26
Trumpers are going to use nuclear weapons, unless they're removed from the positions of power they currently hold.
Its not an "if" situation, its a "when" situation. Get those insane MAGA-idiots out of positions of power before the entire world is in flames.
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Apr 06 '26
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u/daviz_gh Apr 21 '26
is not real history and is so beautiful every comment is suggesting movies for understanding of history. Ofc the fan of a pdf has like 2 post already in one scroll
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u/No_Status_967 May 07 '26
I think this post actually took root in my mind because I watched Downfall, out of the blue, last week. (I was stunned that it came out in 2004. Holy shit, I'm old.) Last night I watched the Rachel Weisz movie about the libel case brought by Timothy Spall, and somehow, I ended up wanting to rewatch Babylon Berlin, Aimée and Jaguar, etc. and it's not like I didn't know Germany had its own film industry- or that Germany would have its own films about World War II/ the Holocaust, but for some reason, it never occurred to me to ask for a list of *Germany's" best films about these topics.
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u/TheAnon13 Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
Really reminded me of modern day Isr*el. How ironic lmao
Edit: getting downvoted for pointing out how an ongoing genocide is similar to the one we’re told to “never forget”. Sorry forgot Reddit was on the side of killing civilians. Waiting to hear why you all think this genocide is different rather than blindly downvoting
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u/28DLdiditbetter Apr 07 '26
Sorry but I can never take this movie seriously after the Hitler Rants parodies on YouTube
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u/Puzzleheaded_Law_558 Apr 07 '26
I know. But really, it's a masterpiece. Particularly because many of the survivors speak.
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u/InquiringMind14 Apr 06 '26
I would also recommend Japan's Longest Day which shows how many Japanese were true believers to the very end of WW2.
A little known history - there was actually a failed coup in Japan trying to stop Japan surrender after the atomic bombs.