Movie on Hitler's final days attracts large German audience

A film about the final days of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler has leapt to the top of Germany's box office chart with nearly half a million tickets sold in its opening weekend. Director Bernd Eichinger's "Der Untergang" ("The Downfall"), starring Swiss actor Bruno Ganz, attracted 480,000 viewers in its first four days, one of the strongest starts for any film this year. The movie, one of the most expensive ever made in Germany, is based on a book by historian Joachim Fest and the memoirs of Traudl Junge, one of Hitler's secretaries. It covers the last 12 days of the dictator's life, including his suicide on 30 April 1945 and the last days of the regime that followed. "Der Untergang" is the first German feature film to have Hitler as its main character. It has also caused a sensation by showing the human side of the dictator, who is usually portrayed as a one-dimensional, totally evil monster.