Last week, I watched what is now my favorite WWII film that I have seen. It’s called "Downfall". It’s a German film that was released in 2004 and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.

The film starts in November of 1942 as Traudl Junge lands the job as Hitler’s (played wonderfully by Bruno Ganz) final secretary in the Berlin, and then jumps forward to the early part of 1945. It ends with the surrender of the German troops in Berlin.

In April of 1945, the Russians were closing in around Berlin and the assurace of defeat was apparent to all of the reasonable members of Hitler’s military staff. In the streets, no real soldiers were left to act on Hitler’s senseless commands after the last of the forces made a retreat from the city. Though Hitler was urged by several of his friends and ministers to leave the city, he remained fixed on his blind faith that victory could still belong to Germany with one last counter-attack. Without the required troops or the support of some of his top officers, any chance of a German victory was lost.

‘Downfall’ introduced me to several of the key members of Hitlers staff, and recounted the story of Hitler’s downfall with events that cannot be found in any History Channel documentaries. It does a great job of presenting Hitler as not an inhuman monster, but as a horrible and sick man. It needs to be recognized that he was indeed a human being full of malice so that we understand that it is not impossible that similar events could happen again.

There are several disturbing and sad moments accross the 2 and a half hours of this film. Perhaps the most disturbing is when Magda and Joseph Goebbels kill their six children.

Throughout the film, I could not help but feel sorry for the people who were drawn in by Hitler’s promises without realizing exactly what they were fighting for. As for Hitler himself, he starts of as a slightly mad leader and deteriorates into an irrational and unsound wretch who’s hands shake uncontrollably and lives completely in a world of his own fantasy. I doubt anybody has interest in reading a review that goes on past this point, so I’ll end it here by saying that I highly recommend this film for anybody who enjoys historical films or just has an interest in what happened in the final weeks of the war in Berlin.

I have a three-at-a-time Netflix account, so I usually watch three flicker shows every week. One of the rentals that I have recently seen is 2000’s "Battle Royale", from Japan. It was based on a novel.

Basically, the concept is this: After the new millennium begins, Japanese students refuse to go to school and pretty much just go around causing trouble for adults. The government responds by establishing "Battle Royal", which is a program where a class of students is randomly chosen and brought-actually abducted and drugged-to a deserted island. Once they wake up on the island, their teacher-played wonderfully by Beat Kitano-fills them in very briefly on what was to transpire over the next three days on the island, and answers the questions about the necklaces that have been fitted around their necks. They are told that they will get 72 hours to kill each other off until only one of the students remains. The necklace is there so that they may be tracked and so that they may be punished if they try to cheat or leave. Also, two "transfer students" are thrown into the mix to make the task more difficult. They are then called individually, given a random pack of supplies (some get very useful items, some do not), and released out into the island.

The rest of the movie shows how the students behave under this incredible pressure. Some form groups of two or more and some go alone. Most of the students show little desire to get violent and kill their classmates, but a few of them become a bit more callous in an attempt to survive the game.

I am sure it sounds like a pretty screwed up concept for a film, but…er, well….yeah it is. It’s a bit like "Lord Of The Flies" to the extreme. It isn’t all cheap and gratuitous violence and gore, it’s got plenty of character depth and suspense. Of course, there is more than enough blood and mayhem.