Bob Long

The movie reflects the heroic struggle by former soldiers and airmen to return to some normalcy in the aftermath of the horrors of the Second World War. The cast in their stunning portrayals of that struggle honor to the highest degree those who served so valiantly in that conflict to protect our freedoms.

Downfall’s success as a historical film is not because the history is accurate. It is. Of course, a historical film has to be researched tremendously closely. But in this case, it is the script and the acting that make downfall one of the most moving and important historical films ever made.

All one needs to do is to see the hole punched in the 1950s and early 60s. It clearly was a period of post-WWII male dominance and arrogant assumptions of superiority. . The story flies in the face of that even if it isn’t true history. But we have a responsibility to see back through that morass and understand the problems it is caused this society.