Conspiración

In January 1942, General Heydrich chaired a meeting of Hitler's top men from various Nazi bodies including the Party, the SS etc. The reason was to `discuss the inevitable and try to bring it about in the most practical way under one command'. The `inevitable' being the spiralling problem of the huge numbers of Jews and how best to deal with them.

This is a chilling dramatisation of the meeting that sealed the fate of millions of Jews. The story is quite simple and could be easily put on the stage - it is merely a board meeting with the focus being on the characters of those involved. The film plays as a normal board meeting - no one in the room is portrayed as monsters - in fact Heydrich is almost comic. One of the most chilling elements is that no-one in the room believes the Jews were normal people, some are horrified by the thought of killing them all on production lines but even then their alternatives never approach humane options.

This very wordy production would never have succeeded without strong actors and here it is blessed by not only famous faces but unknowns giving great performances. It is difficult at first to accept English actors playing Nazis but you soon get past it. Tucci and Branagh are both excellent and Colin Firth is the best I've seen him as Dr Stuckart from the Interior Ministry. I could literally name the whole cast as the members of the meeting are all well played.

This is not presented as a terrible moment and the men are not portrayed as Indiana Jones style evil Nazis. The facts are allowed to speak for themselves and it's all the more chilling for it. Overall this is an excellent film that benefits from great acting, a great script and great direction.

Conspiracy (2001)

No question here—finely made, piercing and disturbing movie made with high realism about a famous Nazi meeting where it become official policy to exterminate the Jews of Europe.

That's enough to make watching it necessary—at least the first half hour, where the cold-blooded tone and the top-down enforcement of brutality (over the wimpy objects of a few at the meeting) are made clear and chilling.

Kenneth Brannagh is almost too brilliant at his role, playing the smart, unyielding, pushy yet conniving officer at the head of his meeting. He's so natural and so not overacting it's terrific. Equally strong in his lesser role as the notorious Eichmann is Stanley Tucci (whose atrocities would only grow as the war wore on—the officer in charge of the meeting was soon assassinated by a pair of British experts).

You'll note Colin Firth in a slightly more sympathetic role as Dr. Stuckart— Stuckart hates the Jews but only enough to want to sterilize all 11 million of the, not kill them. And the actor Brendan Coyle known as Mr. Bates in "Downton Abbey" makes a supporting appearance here, a decade earlier.

Tightly filmed, scripted according to one surviving set of notes from the proceedings, and played with efficiency, this is a great fast entry into the minds of the Third Reich. Thoroughly impressive.

That doesn't mean it's a totally "great" film in part because if its intentions. It recreates the meeting but the meeting, as drama, is more historically interesting than actual theater—or Hollywood. It has a lot of convincing talk, and a lot of the same evil themes and attitudes throughout. After awhile it isn't so much about dramatic development but about seeing how the history might have actually looked.

Conspiracy debuted on HBO in 2001 and centers on the infamous Wannsee conference, where fifteen high-ranking officials of Nazi Germany government and military devised the final solution of the Jewish problem in Europe. The meeting took place in a beautiful house in rural Germany, where food and wine were served, and ideas were born.

This film is the best World War II era film i have ever seen, and one of the best movies i have seen, period. The cast is mostly unknown, but out-act any all-star cast Hollywood has ever produced. Kenneth Branaugh delivers an excellent performance as Heydrich, the head of the table at the meeting. He threatens people with a smile on his face, and barely bats an eye while speaking of killing thousands of people. Stanley Tucci is also great as the party-planner Eichmann, who set up the entire meeting, from the venue to the food to the topics. The way he counts the number of Jews that can be exterminated in a a given period of time is downright creepy. The cast also includes great turns by Colin Firth, a lawyer and professor who thinks the systematic slaughter of the Jews is bad for Germany's future, and Ian McNiece, who plays a hateful and witty official.

The dialogue is smart, funny, and chilling, and contains some jabs at all sides of the biggest war in Earth's history. This is a great movie to show in a history class, before watching a bunch of war movies, or if you just have an interest in the war. It teaches a lot more about the time than Saving Private Ryan (great movie too, but really one-sided), and features the best acting this side of the Godfather.---9/10

As a 4th generation American of German heritage, I have a deep interest in attempting to understand how a presumably cultured, educated, Christian society could become the Nazi nightmare of WWII.

This film, as so eloquently stated by previous posters, is quite simply a cautionary tale for all of humanity. I have seen the film several times on HBO, and whenever it comes on, I feel compelled to drop what I'm doing and watch, again transfixed -- at the ability of our human brains to rationalize and deny even in the face of undebatable truths.

Any honest person watching the film must ask himself -- How would I respond if I were at that table? How would I respond if I were a German citizen in the Third Reich? Americans, I believe, right now in 2005 -- should look at this film as a warning. No -- we are not fascist Nazis -- not yet. But the groundwork is there. The propaganda, the denial of the facts and the demonization of our enemies. The blind nationalism. We are at a turning point in our country -- and we would be wise to look to history as a reminder of what can happen when we as human beings let fear, ego, and the lust for power dominate over all else.

I will buy this DVD and share it with my family and friends.

As long as people believe in absurdities then they will continue to commit atrocities.

-- Bertrand Russell

This movie could have been entitled, "how to chair a board meeting" or "how not to chair a board meeting" - given that the outcome of the meeting was the "final solution".

Gen. Heidrich with consumate skill and care manipulated the gathered Nazi hierarchy to the pre-arranged and pre-destined solution to the Jewish question.

There are a number of moments of exceptional power in the movie - one is where Kritzinger realises the truth, another is where Heidrich makes it clear to Shtukhard that he will be victimised if he does not cooperate. But the best moment must be when even those in favour realise that they are not there to decide the matter but to be to lend their complicity to the pre-made decision.

The psychology of the writing is insprired. I have never been so totally captivated by the mix of acting, subject matter and drama. This is a must see.