Downfall

Recently I watched Downfall, the harrowing and disturbing account of the last twelve days of the Nazi regime.  Set in Hitler's bunker in Berlin, and told mostly partially from the perspective of the Nazi ruler's young secretary, Traudl Junge,  the film features an amazing performance by Bruno Ganz as Hitler.  Ganz brings a stirring intensity to the role as well as an amazing range of emotions, capturing the megalomaniac's mannerisms - ticks, stoop, gait, nervous habits - in all their inglorious glory.  I highly recommend the film, and I think, unfortunately, that more people know it from Youtube parodies than from viewing the actual film.

I recommend Downfall because it is great drama and somehow pertinent.  The phrase "History repeats itself" may be hackneyed, but it always seems to ring true.  As I was watching the film, I kept thinking of another megalomaniac, Moammar Khaddafi, holed up in a bunker, spouting lies about a lost cause, a lost war, a lost regime, to any true believers who might listen.  History repeats itself, sorry.