Seen this at the Showroom today.

This is one of the most powerful films I've ever seen. It centres around the last days of Hitler and his Cohorts/staff. It has had a fair bit of criticism in Germany and lobby groups as it doesn't portray the whole 3rd Reich as the embodyment of evil but as human beings.

In my opinion, this is by far the best film of the decade so far and if their was any justice it would have swept the board at the Oscars. Obviously it wont because it isn't American and there are no US troops swooping in to kill him (although you never know, wait for the Hollywood remake. Will Smith gets all American on him :rolleyes: )

It also has the best acting performances I've ever seen.

Its scope, power and magnitude is truly astounding. I've never cried so much during a film. All the characters show their humanity at times and you even find youself feeling for some of them.

Ganz is superb as Hitler. Showing the human side and the descent into madness and self-delusion.

This film merges the grotesque with moments that will break your heart.. The sheer power of some of it is very unsettling and it pulls no punches at all.

I encourage everyone to go and see this as soon as possible.

I agree, this is a fantastic film. The actor playing Hitler did a brilliant job, the proof being (in part) that it wasn't unintentionally funny. It's a seemingly impossible task to play Hitler sans laughs after 'The Producers', Woody Allen's 'The Schmeed Memoirs' etc but believe me - there are no laughs at all in this very bleak and moving film. There was a worry that neo-nazis may find some fuel for their insane beliefs here, but only lunatics could come away thinking, 'what a great guy', or whatever it is they think, if 'think' is the word. Which it isn't. So I guess this film hasn't changed that situation one way or the other. Be prepared to see Hitler portrayed as a human being, however.

does it have english subtitles then? or is it in english

Sounds great and I would love to see it.
It sounds like an intelligent well-made film. It is time people grew up and realised that history's monsters also had a good side. I've read loads of stuff about Hitler and Stalin , during the last 50 years and it's only fairly recently that the positive side of these two men has emerged.
Simple , naive people must believe that Hitler went round snarling at people and smacking their heads if they annoyed him-----or worse ! All day long ! All on the evidence of a few newsreels !
It's good to know that a powerful film is showing the man "in the round".
You're right , re-American trash-----but if the British public buy it , they'll sell it .

Originally posted by f_g
does it have english subtitles then? or is it in english

German film English Subs

This film may not be everybody's cup of tea but to say the least , you would think it would arouse some interest or comment -----negative or positive.
When you look how many postings there have been on S.F. , concerning some of the crappest T.V. in human history and compare it with the number about this film , it makes you wonder about cultural standards in Sheffield.
No doubt in a year or two , Sheffield will be bidding to become " Cultural Capital of Europe ". I wonder what they'd show at the film festival ? Edited highlights of Big Brother , probably , or East Enders-The Film .

its not just Sheffield it the UK as a whole. We have about as much culture as the States.

Most people wont watch subtitled movies for a start :loopy:

Sheffield need a proper film festival like Leeds.

Robbie ,
I don't know if Sheffield "needs" a film festival ; the real question is , "Could it support one ?"
Imagine the humiliation for Sheffield , if it turned into an expensive fiasco ! If you have a quick zoom through the postings on the Entertainment section of S.F. you can easily see the type of thing which attracts the most viewings and the most responses i.e. generally , the crapper the T.V. or film , the bigger the response.
I would also hazard a guess that the cultural level of S.F. users is probably higher than the general population. If that's correct , the prospect is very bleak !
In the particular case of The Downfall , because it has sub-titles , this prevents a lot of people watching it . I'm sure a good percentage couldn't read the sub-titles quickly or accurately enough , a good percentage couldn't do two things at the same time and very , very few could speak German.
I think your hopes for Sheffield are very noble and I think it would be great to have a well-attended , high-quality film festival------but I'm afraid it would either be very empty of people or reduced to showing "Jurrasic Harry Potter and The Veil of Mystery " type of film----at the moment.

I stumbled on this thread, was actually searching for German lessons, but am glad I ended up here - I've heard a few people mention this film, and all have been gushing with praise for it (one person said that it "makes Schindler's List look like Bridget Jones's Diary":)) - so thanks for reminding me to go and see it.

For the record, Sheffield already has a highly respected film festival, the Sheffield International Documentary Festival (http://www.sidf.co.uk/) - I don't know how many people from Sheffield go to it, but I do know that it's well attended, friends of mine from as far afield as Bristol travel up here for it and judging by some of the accents I overheard last time I was there, the "international" part of the title is no idle boast.

If you're thinking "documentaries: boring" or "not proper films", I'd advise you to go along this October and have a look: I used to think the same thing until I saw "Bowling for Columbine", since then some of the best films I've seen have been documentaries ("The Fog of War" and "The Agronomist" in particular), they can be every bit as gripping as fiction. I think that a lot of people don't go to see documentaries for the same sort of reason that they don't go to see subtitled films, they think it will be hard work and not enjoyable, but if they were willing to try one or two then they might find otherwise.

The documentary festival is rubbish imo. It is a joke compared to leed Film Festival.

As for enough people supporting it. As far as I'm aware the Showroom is very succesful so I don't see a problem.

I've not been to Leeds film festival, or seen the programme, but the Sheffield documentary festival is certainly not rubbish.

there are one or 2 good docs and a lot of average docs squeezed in to a short period.

Leeds gets new premieres from around the world.

last yeards line up:

Leeds 2004 (http://www.leedsfilm.com/2004/liff/page/strands)

OK, that is an impressive line up, but I still don't agree that the Sheffield Festival is "rubbish" or "a joke", or that it shows only one or two good docs - there were around 20 that I was very keen to see last year, unfortunately because I was in London for half of the week, and busy the other half, I only got to see a couple.

Also, the one documentary maker I know (who incidentally is from Ilkley) has spoken to me about the Sheffield festival but has never mentioned Leeds, I (rightly or wrongly) took that as an indication that it's quite highly regarded within the industry.

fair point but its hardly very inclusive having only a doucumentary festival is Sheffield. A very small percentage of Sheffield people watch foreign/alternative films as it is. A lot less watch documentaries in a cinema.

It is the main documentary festival in the North I think but we need a film festival.