What a cast. And what a splendid job they all do in this description of Hitler's last days in the fortified bunker far beneath the Chancellery as World War II was closing in all around the Führer and the remains of his staff. And not one of the actors tries to fake a German accent.
Anthony Hopkins gives the finest portrayal of a living dead man that I've seen. There have been numerous other version, documentary and fictionalized, and some are fine productions but they don't achieve parity. Alec Guiness, for instance, gave us a Hitler who was annoyed by the disintegration of his armies and his plans, an exasperated leader who acts as if the automobile he's just bought is a lemon and not covered by a warantee. Luther Adler showed us a bitter madman. But Hopkins is modulated, quiet, quietly disturbed, his right hand trembling after the attempt on his life the year before. Hopkins' Hitler can no longer raise his injured right arm high enough to give the full salute. It's a stunningly precise and believable portrait. Suspicious, but not a raging paranoid. And under stress he lets loose a startling hiss. It's not surprising that Hopkins does such a good job in the role. He was my co-star in the superior "Road to Wellville" and I gave him a few pointers that helped him over the rough spots. He seemed put out when I charged him ten cents for the tutoring.
The central conflict here is between Hopkins and Albert Speer, his Minister of Arms and War Production. Speer was a brilliant architect and industrialist, a relatively young handsome officer played here by Richard Jordan. Hitler was fond of Speer, considering both of them -- the architect and the erstwhile painter -- to be artists. But now Hitler has issued orders that all of Germany be destroyed before the Allies get to Berlin. Speer objects. Hitler is adamant. Speer develops a plan to introduce poison gas into the vent that supplies air to the underground bunker, which will kill everyone inside, including Hitler. But after the last assassination attempt, Hitler has become double wary and self protective. The plan is dropped and Speer remarks that he'll not try another because "I think I only had one in me." Speer decides instead to agree to the destruction of Germany but will prevent it by bureaucratic stalling and by wrapping the process in red tape.
There are scenes between Hopkins and Jordan that are truly touching. Speer was perhaps Hitler's favorite among his staff. "My good architect; my GENIUS architect." Now Speer is telling him frankly that the war is lost. Well, nobody else is telling der Fürher that the war is lost. They know better, because the penalty for acting on that belief is death. But Hopkins BEGS Jordan for some sign of faith. Okay, Jordan believes the war is lost. But does he have faith in ME? Does he at least have HOPE? "Even THAT would satisfy me." Jordan is desolate and Hopkins is near tears as he implores his friend to give some positive response. It's like watching the tragic breakup of a love affair or a marriage. It seems impossible but Hopkins brings humanity to the most inhumane human being of his century. I can imagine the outcries against a portrait of Hitler that isn't a stereotype.
To make matters worse, we see him flirting with Susan Blakely as his mistress, Eva Braun. But if the viewer needs the usual clichés, they're available in occasional dissolves followed by flashbacks to better times, when Hitler and Speer first met, before Germany became a sewer, before the death factories began to churn out their product. But history is inexorable. As Berlin is encircled, desperate attempts are made to get out, to avoid the vengeful Russians by surrendering to Eisenhower in the west. The atmosphere in the littered and unguarded bunker itself follows secretary Traudl Junge's description -- the men on the remaining staff dance and carouse with the women and drink themselves into a stupor. It was a big party. The party atmosphere was enhanced by the mockery of a marriage between Hitler and Eva Braun. "Do you swear that you are of pure Aryan descent and free of hereditary diseases?" It's impossible not to be moved as the end approaches and Josef Goebbels invites his staff to a farewell party. The camera lingers on the faces of his children, some barely old enough to sing the heroic song, and all of whom he and his wife Magda will shortly kill by cyanide poisoning.
There have been a number of films about Hitler's last days, both feature films and documentaries. This is one of the best. Let's hope it's also the last. Who wants to watch a long, slow suicide?
