Fatherland (1994) (TV)

Director:

Christopher Menaul

Writers (WGA):

Robert Harris (novel)
Stanley Weiser (teleplay) ...

Release Date:

26 November 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

It's 1964. What if Hitler had won the war?

Plot:

Fictional account of what might have happend if Hitler had won the war. It is now the 1960s and Germany's war crimes have so far been kept a secret...

Plot Keywords:

Germany | Nazi | 1960s | Hitler | Genocide

Awards:

Won Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Rutger Hauer	...	SS-Sturmbannführer Xavier March
Miranda Richardson	...	Charlie Maguire
Peter Vaughan	...	SS-Oberstgruppenführer Artur Nebe
Michael Kitchen	...	SS-Untersturmführer Max Jäger
Jean Marsh	...	Anna von Hagen
John Woodvine	...	Franz Luther
John Shrapnel	...	SS-Obergruppenführer Odilo 'Globus' Globocnik
Clive Russell	...	Krebs
Clare Higgins	...	Klara
Pavel Andel	...	Man in Dark Coat
Petronella Barker	...	Helga Schröter, Tour Guide (as Petronella O. Barker)
Sarah Berger	...	Leni Kalder
Jan Bidlas	...	Bellboy
Stuart Bunce	...	Blind Soldier
Charles De'Ath	...	Fake Porter

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Germany:16 | Spain:13 | UK:15 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Prague, Czech Republic

Company:

Eis Film

Trivia:

The pompous buildings in post-war Berlin are based on actual plans by Albert Speer, Hitler's favorite architect and secretary of armaments. Among several other landmarks we see a huge dome (the Palace of the People's Forums) a Triumph Arch, an Olympic Stadium and the Reich's Chancellorship. Only the Stadium and the Chancellorship were actually built, but the later was wrecked by bombings and finally looted and demolished by the Red Army. The rest of them were never built, and constructions like the Arch and the Dome were so massive that architects were unsure of their viability, until recent computer-based simulation have stated that Speer's calculations were correct, and had Hitler won the war, Berlin would have pretty much looked as the movie shows.

Goofs:

Plot holes: Several times through out the movie it is mentioned that six million Jews died. Since Germany won WWII in the film, the Nazis would have been able to complete the extermination of Europe's Jews the number of victims would have been approximately 12 million.

Quotes:

Artur Nebe: What do you want, Globus?
Odilo 'Globus' Globocnik: I want to... broaden your horizons.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Showbiz Today: (1994-11-25)" (1994)

the most horrifying "what if" you could imagine!

All of us have wondered what would happen if we could re-write history and change the past. There were two 1977 tv films for example called The Trial Of Lee Harvey Oswald and The Court Martial Of George Armstrong Custer about what would have happened if they had stood trail for President Kennedy's murder and the Battle Of The Little Bighorn. Fatherland takes on an even bolder, and horrifying "what if".

In this re-write of history, the D-Day Invasion failed sending General Eisenhower into a humiliating retirement. America defeated Japan and avenged Pearl Harbor. All of Europe has turned into a vast country of "Germania" with the dreaded Gestapo now a peacetime police force (its so funny listening to the bored and mechanical manner in which they say "Heil Hitler" a fearsome murderous guard is now just a bunch of tired bean counters) and Berlin a Nazi showplace. Hitler hopes a deal can be struck with the new American President Joseph P. Kennedy. It is now 1964.

The question that has plagued people for years is what happened to the millions of Jews that disappeared in the war and were said to have been resettled? Rutger Hauer and Miranda Richardson play an SS Officer and an American journalist who stumble upon what would have been WWII's most dreaded secret. Hauer's character, even though he is a Nazi, isn't really an evil man. He's a loving father who cannot believe the horrible truth. This movie is so well written that it's hard to believe it didn't happen this way. This was originally supposed to be a theatrical release, but relegated to HBO. The sets showing "Germania" are very well constructed (almost surrealistic, especially the massive Nuremberg dome) as well as the big pictures of what Hitler would look like if he had lived to be 75.

I have to admit I didn't like the ending either. I would have liked it better if they had both been able to escape to America. At least the truth was out when they gave the evidence to the President, Hitler's regime fell and "we are no longer living in the house of the blind".