Bunker, The

Anthony Hopkins was once asked how he prepared for his performance as Adolf Hitler in the Fuehrer Bunker in the final days, and he said that he based it off an extremely annoying uncle he had.The uncle must have been a very nasty character indeed, because Hopkins doesn't impersonate Hitler...he inhabits the role, and won the Emmy Award he so richly deserved for this movie.I'll let others argue over who is the better Hitler: Alec Guinness in "Hitler: The Last Ten Days" or Hopkins in "The Bunker," or Bruno Ganz in "Downfall," but all are outstanding, handling the same subject in different ways.This is film has a slightly different focus, looking a bit more at the various characters trapped in the Fuehrer Bunker with their deranged boss, most of whom were stuck there by duty and happenstance. For duty: the telephone operator, the maintenance man, Hitler's secretaries, cooks, and maids, the various generals and aides, who took down and passed on his increasingly insane orders. For happenstance: Hitler's fawning acolytes, like Joseph Goebbels and his whole family (who meet a ghastly fate), the crawling and creepy Martin Bormann, the slightly rational Albert Speer, and the bizarrely devoted Eva Braun.Seeing these cutthroats and poltroons in the final hours of the Third Reich, as Hitler's demented dreams all come crashing down on their heads, makes you realize just how Nazi Germany's real evil was how it put the very worst people at the head of state: men and women without honor, without compassion, without empathy, without humanity, and let them and their bloodlust, kleptomania, paranoia, and greed loose upon the world, checked only by the massive force and determination of their enemies. Someone said that "A Police State is one where the police are criminals," and Nazi Germany was surely that, and "The Bunker" shows how it collapsed of a combination of its own failures and its enemies.And it reminds us of something better: Gandhi's words that "All tyrants must fall."

I got Bunker because I wanted to see how Anthony Hopkins would handle the character of Adolf Hitler. I really didn't expect to be so blown away by the authenticity he brought to the role. For me, Downfall was the best version of the same movie I'd ever seen. Sniff.In a way, though, Downfall didn't provide the actors with enough room for interpretation. Bunker is slower, allowing for more focus on the characters. It's like seeing all the GOOD books you've read about Hitler, come to life. When you read Mein Kampf, you see inside the mind of Hitler, and Hopkins transforms that book, it seems -- into the man you see onscreen. I can't otherwise describe his portrayal. You just have to see it.I got the VHS tape of Bunker, not the DVD, so I don't know what else the DVD has on it, but I'm sure it's better. The VHS played crisply on my Toshiba 19L4200U, which I also got here at Amazon. (Man, that TV makes old VHS tapes play like DVDs.)Really. If you're interested in this period you MUST see the superior performances in this film. Many well-respected Brits and American actors round out the cast, every one of them well suited, with a great script, acting and superior direction and camera work. This is a film to watch many times over.My only criticism is that the film is too short. This would have been a great cast to turn the production into a longer mini-series.

Anyone who was ever curious about what the last desperate days of The Third Reich were like needs to see this film. I recently read Cornelius Ryan's book The Last Battle which is about the battle of Berlin in early 1945. The movie is so faithful to the book I would not be suprised if it were used to produce the screen play. Mr. Hopkins as one would expect does a masterful job of portraying the doomed dictator in his subterranean labryinth. The supporting cast is up to the task, actors look very much like the people they are portraying, uniforms and personalities are correct. Where history does not provide answers this movie thankfully does not conjecture (for example the fate of Martin Borman and the disposal of the bodies of Hitler and his wife Eva) but follows the facts as well as can be acertained. Hitlers violent mood swings are documented as well as every other story about what went on in the bunker to include; quack doctors, Eva Braun, the Goebbels family, Guderian, the political treachery of Himmler and Goering, astrological predictions, preparation for suicides and rape by Russian soldiers. Scenes of outright madness such as decorating The Hitler Youth with medals while the Russian forces are blocks away blasting ever closer add to the feeling of lunacy. The scene where the bunker secretaries share tea and crumpets with Der Fuhrer is memorable as is the wedding reception scene, they make you think more of an execution rather than a celebration. Several explosions but no real combat scenes. I would have got this on DVD had it been available, but the VCR version is of fine quality. This is a great movie especially if you are a WW2 or history buff.

Chilling and pretty acurate drama about Hitler's last days. Anthony Hopkins, although a good deal younger than hitler at the time of his death, nails the lunatic character of a monster in his death throes. It is pretty obvious that this account is based on the memoirs of Albert Speer, an eye witness and major player in the third reich, also one of the few survivors of The Bunker - brilliantly played by Richard Jordan. The rest of the characters are also well cast with exceptional talent. This was a production of CBS television in the 1980's, which really sets the scene, despite having a very limited budget. Played back to back with "Downfall", a movie production on the same topic, it offers different insights into the appocolyptic closing scenes of WWII in Europe

Classic film. Bought for my Dad. They don't make them like this anymore.

Film sauvé par la performance d'Anthony Hopkins, la restauration hd n'est pas au rendez vous, il n'y a pas de langue française alors que le générique est en français !

i watched this film last evening as i am fasinated in the 2nd world war and that period of history, its a long film with a run time of 2 hours and 25 minuetes and depicts the life of hitler and his henchmen over the last 110 days of the third reich, and includes the suicides of mr and mrs hitler as well others including the awful awful scenes of a mother killing her 6 children, then her selfit stars anthony hopkins as hitler, not a actor i would have said would have been in my top 1000 people who could play him and convince me, b ut i was wrong, his acting sent a chill running down my spine, because in one of his rages he could have been hitler, or the hitler shown giving speeches during news reelsall of the actors in this film in my view are outstanding, it must have been so hard portraying the evil in this film but they managed it and all though it may be wrong i cheered when hitler and mrs hitler, eva braun took their lifeshitler was shown as he truly was in the bunker with deterioting health and his parkinsons disease worsening, he was even shown getting injections straight in to his eyes, ick just a tip dont be eating dinner when that bit comes on it totally turned my stomach, he is shown as having infantile rages on second and wandering around in a seeming daze the next though i must admit i think he took the easy way out, a slow and extreemly painful death is what he deservedall in all a great film with no holds barred showing a very very difficult time in history with the best depiction of hitler i have seen other than the orginal from pathe news reports ive seen, for any fan of this period of history this is a must see film

Zwangsläufig wird dieser alte Film mit der jüngsten Verfilmung , dem deutschen "Der Untergang", verglichen.Man kann diese Vergleiche anhand vielfältiger Kriterien durchführen.Erster Punkt ist natürlich die Hauptrolle : soll man Bruno Ganz oder Anthony Hopkins den Vorzug geben ? Nun, beide haben ihre Arbeit sehr gut getan.Man darf nicht vergessen, dass Hopkins einer der größten Schauspieler der Welt ist, der bereits so unterschiedliche Charaktere wie den US-Präsidenten Richard Nixon, den spanischen Maler Pablo Picasso, den sadistischen Kapitän William Bligh, den Glöckner von Notre Dame Quasimodo , den Maskierten Zorro, den Vampirjäger Van Helsing und natürlich den Menschenfresser Hannibal Lector dargestellt hat.Hopkins hat eine beachtliche Karriere hinter sich und so wundert es nicht, dass er scheinbar mühelos auch in die Haut des Adolf Hitler schlüpfen konnte.In diesem Film fokussiert sich die Handlung stärker auf Albert Speer, den NS-Architekten, und dessen Plan, Giftgas in den Bunker einzuleiten.Während in der deutschen Verfilmung aus Sicht der Sekretärin erzählt wird, erscheint diese junge Frau hier nur am Rande.Im Gegenzug aber wird in "Der Bunker" auch die Selbsttötung des Ehepaares Hitler hinter verschlossenen Türen gezeigt, wobei sogar grösster Wert auf Authenzität gelegt wurde.Die Möbel sehen exakt wie die aus, die 1945 in Berlin gefunden wurden.Also, ich möchte gern beide Filme empfehlen ! Sowohl Hopkins, als auch Ganz haben ihre Sache ausgezeichnet gemacht, auch wenn die ältere Verfilmung in technischer Hinsicht der jüngeren weit unterlegen ist.Trotzdem 5 verdiente Sterne.

This is a performance for the ages. Based on accurate source material