This TV series tries too cook up something new with material that is already known ad nauseam. It is a mixture between documentary and reality TV. The subject: Albert Speer, early Nazi member, architect, "the closest friend of Hitler if Hitler could have had any friend", German minister for armament up to the very annihilation of that country, defendant in Nuremberg, prisoner in Spandau for 20 years, writer of memoirs and as openly repentant ex Nazi frequent guest in the international media after his release.
The main point the series sets out to make is to prove that Speer was far more involved in war crimes than he ever admitted. He was directly responsible for the eviction of Berlin Jews from their flats as a way he proposed to resettle tenants from other Berlin flats that would have to be torn down for his and Hitlers absolutely megalomanic plans for a new town center. He more or less controlled the construction of extermination camps and willingly used slave labour in subterranean armament plants without caring about the indescribable conditions those slaves had to live in. The conclusion: He knew everything and went along with it.
In my opinion too much time is used to highlight the crimes. And the idea to use three of his children as (amazingly willing) character witnesses in interviews was somewhat revolting: What could they say about a man they hardly ever met? It would have been more interesting to explore the personality of Speer and his relations with the people who really were around him. Descendant of a long line of architects and certainly of a sharp and schooled intellect, he represents the civilized part of the Nazi dictatorship. And yet he went along with its barbaric acts from beginning to end without any moral doubts (they came later, so he claimed). He was a tough guy, an opportunist. You find them in every kind of regime and they are equally important everywhere to make them work. So I would have been glad if the movie could have gone closer to explore the type of man Speer represents rather than enumerate again what the man did in the specific historical context.
Speer could have served wonderfully for this exploration of type. His biography sets one thinking. The man was ambitious, a youth yearning for glory, he was certainly flattered by the attention Hitler (a wannabe architect) gave to him, he was power hungry and worked hard to attain his goal. He was able to analyze situations and to react and adapt to them, even under extreme pressure. Here's your ideal man for getting a job done! But somehow the man was amoral. He was able to walk over dead bodies but isn't that what many want from their men, even in a democracy? Here would have been a golden opportunity to explore where society and individuals should draw a line. In this TV series they let it pass.
