It’s taken me a long time to get around to watching Downfall (Der Untergang), the German-language film that chronicles the final hours of Hitler’s life. Set entirely in his bunker in the heart of Berlin, it is a strangely moving portrayal of a man - albeit an evil one - who realises that his hopes and dreams are crumbling and that with all the might of the remaining forces at his disposal, he has no way out other than death.

At times, the sentimental treatment of this historical monster can be slightly unsettling. For the most part he is shown as gentle and kind, admired by his staff, all of whom he treats well, and to all of whom he is entirely forgiving and understanding. Eva Braun, too, is shown as a doting lover and, eventually, wife, who would happily go to her death because she is doing so beside the man who means more than anything else in her life. She is the happiest, most optimistic and liveliest person in the bunker, neither too morose to throw a party as the Russian artillery pounds away all around them, nor too superior to sit with the infantrymen and get drink with them in the last few hours and minutes.

Perhaps the most tragic and uncomfortable scenes, though, are those which surround the Goebbels family. Joseph Goebbels was Hitler’s propaganda minister, so it’s perhaps unsurprising that his wife, Magda, should be so committed to the cause of National Socialism. At one point she falls at Hitler’s feet, begging him not to kill himself, for she cannot bear the thought of a world without National Socialism as a framework in which they can live.

And yet she was the stronger of the two - in this portrayal at least - in the uncomfortable scenes in which she murders her children. Aged between four and 12, they are drugged and, as they fall under the influence of the morphine and lay sleeping in their beds, she puts a cyanide capsule between each child’s teeth, squeezes their jaw to break it in their mouths and, as they take a single last breath, pull blankets over their faces, exposing their feet. It is the most disturbing and memorable scene of the whole film.

How the Goebbels died - whether they killed themselves or were killed by the SS at their own request - isn’t entirely known, but Downfall chooses the former, with Joseph first shooting his wife in the bunker compound, before turning the gun on himself in the closing scenes.

It is an extraordinary film, and one that will repay rewatching. Its three hours are gone in an instant and, in the final analysis, you can see that these were truly evil people who found themselves in a desperate situation. If ever there was a film to make you think, it is this.

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