AN IMPRESSIVE LEAP forward for director Oliver Hirschbiegel (Das Experiment), Downfall is sort of a flip side to Saving Private Ryan. It's equally visceral on a similar epic scale, but the Spielbergian uplift is notably absent: this being the Axis's tale, acknowledgment that "war is hell" can only be followed by "and then you die, but only after realizing you were wrong all along." Whether it's possible for a German (or any other) historical reenactment to be nonjudgmental about the Reich's last days, Downfall comes close. Russian troops are closing in on Berlin as Adolf Hitler (Bruno Ganz) denies the war is lost, when not accusing his generals – who appear to suddenly realize he's utterly insane – and the German populace in general for betraying his National Socialist dream. Meanwhile, Eva Braun (Juliane Kohler) is in a state of partying hysteria, and der Führer's stenographer (Alexandra Maria Lara as Traudl Junge, upon whose first-person account the script is largely based) ponders whether she's Nazi enough to go down with the sinking ship. Downfall has sparked controversy in Europe, especially Germany, where its portrayal of Hitler and company was considered not nearly condemnatory enough. The film disturbs because it shows Hitler as a sweetie pie toward select children, dogs, and secretaries – as well as an irrational, screaming, paranoid, and unblinkingly murderous nutcase. By turns pathetic and stark mad, Ganz's Hitler is a startling study of the sociopathic petty tyrant – and a brutal reminder of how easily whole populations have been (and still are) duped by just such. How can we resist evil if we're unwilling to recognize it in ourselves? The film wisely submerges this striking yet grounded performance in a meticulously researched ensemble drama that vividly conveys life in the middle of a siege, as well as the death throes of a diseased regime. Its prosaic, literal approach is apt: Downfall isn't about the Third Reich as abstraction or mythos, but rather as a terribly human event that ended in misery and failure. (Dennis Harvey)