10 Times Movies Did Their Research (And Nailed It)

2004's Downfall may be best known for the many, many parodies of Hitler's iconic breakdown in the bunker, but it deserves to be remembered as a great film in its own right. The movie acts as a glimpse into the final days of Adolf Hitler, and as such is held together by Bruno Ganz's magnetic performance as the embittered, broken-down dictator.

As detailed by historian James Rogers on History Hit (via Screen Rant), Ganz's portrayal is so mesmerizing because of the lengths the Swiss-born actor took to immerse himself in the dictator's mindset at the time.

The actor was given access to recordings taken from the bunker in which Hitler spent his final days, which led to Ganz uncovering a disarmingly human side to history's greatest villain. Rather than a towering force of nature, Downfall's Hitler is a shaking, weakened old man who is disarmingly capable of kindness to those close to him.

As the much-memed rant scene shows, Bruno Ganz was more than capable of depicting the towering fury that cowed Hitler's subordinates and marched his nation -and the world - towards disaster. Yet it is the actor's dedication to capturing Hitler the man, rather than the crazed Führer of popular culture, that ensures his performance remains iconic two decades later.