It took about two years for a scene in Oliver Hirschbiegel’s 2004 feature “Downfall” to become an internet meme Hall of Famer. You’ve probably seen some version of it. The late Bruno Ganz’s Adolf Hitler, dug into this bunker like a late summer tick, transforms in the space of a door clicking shut into an erupting Vesuvius, spewing lava-hot rage on his top officers.
Enterprising YouTubers changed the subtitles to suit whatever subject they wanted Hitler to be freaking out about in any given week, and for several years some version of it circulated before YouTube cracked down on our good time. Everyone had their favorite; mine was the 2010 version showing Ganz’s Hitler appearing to freak out about Jay Leno returning to “The Tonight Show.”
