The film’s most striking quality, and it’s not insignificant, is director Margarethe von Trotta’s refusal to fossilize the controversies she dramatizes.
Are we subjecting Hitler’s stereotype to the very mistreatment that contributed to the man’s infamous persona?
Downfall challenges us not to derive schadenfreude from watching the Germans in the film getting flushed down the toilet.
The film conveys a chilling vision of rats being slowly flushed down a toilet.