Does Downfall "humanize" Hitler and his henchmen, as its critics have complained? Yes, and it should: to pretend these villains were less than human is to let ourselves off the hook, to take the easy and dangerous exit of demonology.

Some demons are too extreme to comprehend, but Hirschbiegel's film nonetheless provides a painfully unflinching glimpse into the outer workings of the mortally wounded Third Reich.

Viewed through a North American lens, the movie itself seems more familiar than fascinating, more innocuous than inflammatory, and, at 21/2 hours, more tedious than anything else.

A provocative, thoughtful perspective on an arch-criminal guilty of heinous crime.