Stormtrooper superstars
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1449873,00.html
A new German film has turned the SS into heroes
Stephen Moss
Friday April 1, 2005
The Guardian
Most of the critiques of the German film Downfall, which opens here
today, have missed the point. It is not the alleged humanising of
Hitler that is contentious, it is the lionising of the SS, who remain
brave, unbending and beautifully dressed as Berlin disintegrates around
them.
The film is superbly made and has been a huge hit in Germany. But part
of the reason for its success there is that it portrays the German
army, Berliners and even the occupants of that crazy, claustrophobic
bunker as heroic. With the Russians advancing from the east, the
Americans from the west, 12-year-old boys don Hitler Youth uniforms to
point bazookas at tanks and a German aviator makes an impossible flight
to be with his F=FChrer as the end approaches. Concentrating on the
final 10 days keeps the focus on the implosion of Germany. Of course,
that implosion is the result of ... what is the word, stupidity,
aggression, viciousness, evil over the previous decade, but as the
bombs rain down on the bunker, none of that counts for much. We live
the moment of courage and resistance.
Stephen Moss
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