Hopkins is terrible here
Hilarious performance all the way, a ridiculous caricature with plenty of tics and comical facial movement.
Reminds me of John Cleese's Hitler. Only he was supposed to be a joke.
Yeah, I laughed out loud. He apes Hitler's mannerism very hard but his eyes remain dead the whole time.
shareWell, I think that's pretty much an accurate portrayal of Hitler in the last months of his life. If anything, Hopkins may have underplayed the physical decline. At least from what I read, Hitler dragged one leg, had more severe tremors in his right arm than Hopkins played, and had some loss of control of his facial muscles. Most began after the failed assassination in July of 1944. It got worse when he took to The Bunker in January of 1945, all the while getting various injections from the quack doctor, Morel, under Borman's "guidance." So I thought Hopkins did an excellent job portraying a man the entire world knows.
shareAbsolutely agree with you, Hopkins was brilliant, and his performance compared favourably to that of Bruno Ganz in 'Downfall' imho (and Hopkins had the right colour eyes too). Reading how the other actors related to Hopkins between filming takes also confirms how realistically he played the part. It's believed that Hitler had a form of Parkinsons Disease hence the tremors and tics etc., which did indeed become worse following the 1944 failed assassination attempt.
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