The end of Nazi Germany was not a pretty sight. From a government that was the terror of the world in its final days was only able to direct the affairs of its citizens in an ever shrinking perimeter around the city of Berlin. Around the time FDR was inaugurated for a fourth term and took off for Yalta to discuss post war Europe with Churchill and Stalin, Hitler took refuge in a special bunker constructed way beneath the Reichstag. American bombers by day and British by night gave him like May Britt in The Young Lions no rest. Seemed like the logical thing.
But some like Martin Bormann played here quite eerily by Michael Lonsdale wanted Hitler to go to his mountain retreat of Berchtesgarden and conduct a resistance of attrition from there. That is the central theme of The Bunker. Anthony Hopkins as Hitler in a mad show of bravado won't do it.
Hopkins is a mesmerizing and total Hitler. By total I mean we see him in the big and small things. The big things like trying to keep the war he started going and dealing with treachery from that curious gang of subordinates like Goering and Himmler from cutting their own deals. These two play minor roles because they cut out early. Hitler is also seen in the small things, playing with Joe and Magda Goebbels children, playing house with Eva Braun, and caring for his faithful retriever Blondi whom in the end he poisoned. He genuinely worried about the dog not being able to fend for itself in the rubble of Berlin and it starving to death.
Of all the top aides around Hitler, I think hands down the sickest of the lot was Joe Goebbels. Cliff Gorman and Piper Laurie give matchless performances, twin studies in fanaticism. As their Aryan world crumbles around them, Joe and Magda decide they and their six children will not survive. Joe won't in any event, but Magda agrees that she and the kids don't want to live in a world run by non-Aryans and those Jews left that either survived or didn't fall into captivity. The two were matched in intensity for their devotion to Nazi ideology and in libidos that didn't quit. Joe who ran UFA studios in the Third Reich had a casting couch that was the envy of any Hollywood mogul, he had powers they couldn't imagine. But according to Albert Speer's post war memoirs, Magda Goebbels never sat home and let the grass grow under her feet.
According to Speer The Bunker also gets it right about Eva Braun. Susan Blakely plays her just like Speer describes her, just a power groupie before that term was invented without a political thought in her head. He also said she was personally kind and devoted and was always being approached by people seeking to influence Hitler in one thing or another. Curiously enough Benito Mussolini's mistress Clara Petacci is described the same way.
The Bunker is one of the best made for television films ever done. It gives quite an insight into the fanatical minds and mad politics that dominated Nazi Germany as well as a personal view of its leadership. Don't miss this one by any means.
But some like Martin Bormann played here quite eerily by Michael Lonsdale wanted Hitler to go to his mountain retreat of Berchtesgarden and conduct a resistance of attrition from there. That is the central theme of The Bunker. Anthony Hopkins as Hitler in a mad show of bravado won't do it.
Hopkins is a mesmerizing and total Hitler. By total I mean we see him in the big and small things. The big things like trying to keep the war he started going and dealing with treachery from that curious gang of subordinates like Goering and Himmler from cutting their own deals. These two play minor roles because they cut out early. Hitler is also seen in the small things, playing with Joe and Magda Goebbels children, playing house with Eva Braun, and caring for his faithful retriever Blondi whom in the end he poisoned. He genuinely worried about the dog not being able to fend for itself in the rubble of Berlin and it starving to death.
Of all the top aides around Hitler, I think hands down the sickest of the lot was Joe Goebbels. Cliff Gorman and Piper Laurie give matchless performances, twin studies in fanaticism. As their Aryan world crumbles around them, Joe and Magda decide they and their six children will not survive. Joe won't in any event, but Magda agrees that she and the kids don't want to live in a world run by non-Aryans and those Jews left that either survived or didn't fall into captivity. The two were matched in intensity for their devotion to Nazi ideology and in libidos that didn't quit. Joe who ran UFA studios in the Third Reich had a casting couch that was the envy of any Hollywood mogul, he had powers they couldn't imagine. But according to Albert Speer's post war memoirs, Magda Goebbels never sat home and let the grass grow under her feet.
According to Speer The Bunker also gets it right about Eva Braun. Susan Blakely plays her just like Speer describes her, just a power groupie before that term was invented without a political thought in her head. He also said she was personally kind and devoted and was always being approached by people seeking to influence Hitler in one thing or another. Curiously enough Benito Mussolini's mistress Clara Petacci is described the same way.
The Bunker is one of the best made for television films ever done. It gives quite an insight into the fanatical minds and mad politics that dominated Nazi Germany as well as a personal view of its leadership. Don't miss this one by any means.