Der Untergang (Downfall in English) is an internationally acclaimed Austrian film about the most notorious man in the world: Germany’s Chancellor, the reason behind the Second World War, and a racist genocidal maniac, Adolf Hitler. The movie itself is a work of art. Swiss actor Bruno Ganz’s portrayal of the German dictator is unparalleled and has received nothing but praise.

But the better part of the world that we dwell in has probably not even heard of this masterpiece. They are, however, aware of its existence because of one particular scene.

This highly volatile and dramatic scene, one of the movie’s iconic moments, has alas turned into a meme. [Photo: Screengrab]

The scene depicts Hitler being informed by his generals about their dwindling resources in battle and their constant defeat. A furious Hitler then dismisses everyone from the room except for for the top brass and jumps into a rage rant against what he perceived as treachery. It is only after he is done shouting that he finally accepts that the war is lost. The German dictator, however, is determined to stay in Berlin till the very end, even if it meant killing himself.

This highly volatile and dramatic scene, one of the movie’s iconic moments, has alas turned into a meme. Yes, Hitler is a meme. And this isn’t a new phenomenon. There have been thousands of variations of this meme in the last 6-7 odd years including a rather famous one about the Xbox, PS3 and Wii. The meme, as it usually goes, depicts the whole scene, beginning from the German Generals informing Hitler of their losses to Hitler losing his temper and shouting at everyone at the top of his voice. The German audio is always retained and only the subtitles keep changing.

Of course, like everything else in the world, India too got a taste of this meme, though a bit late. Few of the more memorable ones are about Arvind Kejriwal’s landslide victory in the Delhi elections and Adarsh Liberals.

The newest one in this series of illustrious and entertaining video memes is one about demonetisation. This of course, had to happen. The video shows Hitler going into an all out rant about Narendra Modi’s economic blunder of banning Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes.

One has to appreciate the irony of the Nazi Fuhrer beating down on Narendra Modi – who has been, and continues to be referred to, by many as a fascist leader. But that too is cleared up within moments when Hitler goes so far as to say “He is giving international fascism a bad name”.

Whoever created this video, has managed to add every facet of the glorious train-wreck that has been the demonetisation drive so far. It even includes one of the Generals suggesting an army appropriation to the argument. Hitler’s reply is short and curt: Don’t try to feed me the same propaganda that I invented in the first place.

All in all, for those furious about the daily blunders of this government’s heavy-handed under-planned economic strategies, this is definitely a wonderful respite.

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