Conspiracy (2001) (TV)

Director:

Frank Pierson

Writer (WGA):

Loring Mandel (written by)

Release Date:

19 May 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | War

Tagline:

One Of The Greatest Crimes Against Humanity Was Perpetrated In Just Over An Hour.

Plot:

A dramatic recreation of the Wannsee Conference where the Nazi Final Solution phase of the Holocaust was devised.

Plot Keywords:

Nazi | Conference | Holocaust | SS | Jew

Awards:

Won Golden Globe. Another 6 wins & 17 nominations

Cast

Kenneth Branagh	...	Reinhard Heydrich
Clare Bullus	...	Maid (as Claire Bullus)
Stanley Tucci	...	Adolf Eichmann
Simon Markey	...	Stenographer
David Glover	...	Supervising Butler
David Willoughby	...	Orderly #1
Tom Hiddleston	...	Phone Operator
David Spinx	...	Cook
Dirk Martens	...	NCO
Barnaby Kay	...	Rudolf Lange
Peter Sullivan	...	SS.Col. Eberhard 'Karl' Schöngarth
Ben Daniels	...	Dr. Joseph Bühler
Andreas Günther	...	NCO2 (as Andreas Guenther)
Ewan Stewart	...	Dr. Georg Leibbrandt
Brian Pettifer	...	Dr. Alfred Meyer

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Iceland:12 | Finland:K-3 | Canada:14+ (Ontario) | Australia:M | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

This production used an almost theatrical performance style during shooting. The performers stayed in costume and character from the start to the end of each day of filming. A set was used with solid (non-moving) walls and ceilings, to reinforce the reality of the setting, and eliminate any delays for changing camera or lighting setups. The action was filmed in extremely long sequences, sometimes 20 pages or more of script at a stretch, which is unusual in this type of production. However many of the actors have a Shakespearean background, and having to memorize this amount of dialogue was not a new experience for them. The production style required the use of the Super 16 film format. This was needed because of the longer film magazines available for those cameras, and also the smaller size, allowing the cameras to get in very close to the performers sitting around a conference table, the setting used for the bulk of the story.

Goofs:

Factual errors: As Heydrich arrives for the conference in his Storch aircraft, an overhead shot of the aircraft shows it with swastika markings on the upper surfaces of both wings. Luftwaffe aircraft bore the swastika on their vertical tail surfaces only. The wings and fuselages were marked with the the traditional straight cross national insignia.

Quotes:

Heydrich: [the meeting is near a close, and Heydrich is listening to everyone's decision] Do we have any disputes left to face here either with my authority or with that we have agreed? General?
Müller: Let us astonish Charles Darwin.
Klopfer: [raises glass] I second the motion. It is our most important war.
Heydrich: Sir?
Kritzinger: We are discussing the inevitable and bringing it about in the most practical way under one command. I have no dispute with that, I understand the realities. And indeed, count on my support.
Hofmann: With the understanding that consideration will be given to my proposal, yes. Proceed.
Dr. Georg Leibbrandt: I defer to the SS.
Dr. Alfred Meyer: If you are to do it, then force-feed it. Speed it along. Our situation, such as in Warsaw, is difficult, edging towards disastrous. Thank you.
Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart: ...Oh, yes. What can I say? My enthusiasm is boundless.
Undersecretary Martin Luther: Obviously.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 59th Annual Golden Globe Awards (2002) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Adagio from 'String Quintet in C Major', D. 956, op. post. 163

An astonishing record of a pivotal, but little known moment in human history

Our perception of the Holocaust is shaped by the harrowing images of the gas chambers and crematoria of Auswitz; watch Conspiracy and be jarred out of the complacency that comes from familiarity and be a fly-on-the-wall at the genesis of genocide.

The film documents a meeting held during WW2, when SS second-in-command, Reinhard Heydrich, assembles a group of Nazi bureaucrats and functionaries to 'discuss the final solution of the Jewish question'. In the sublime surroundings of a German country house, the assembled mingle for drinks, enjoy a first class buffet lunch and debate whether execution or sterilisation is the most efficient option of eliminating an entire race of people.

Subject matter aside, Conspiracy is all the more devastating, and precious, from its excellent script and incredible ensemble performances. There is no attempt or need to manipulate the viewer - the enormity of the truth is compelling, and appalling enough. The are no cartoon Nazis here, the depiction of Heydrich is fascinating and complex: the man is urbane, witty, impeccably mannered and utterly devoid of morality.

Credit must be given to Kenneth Branagh who propels the entire piece with one of the best portrayals on screen in memory. He is utterly convincing in the role of a man who epitomises the classic definition of evil: not just the doing of wrong, but the perversion of the human spirit so that it no longer has any perception of the good.

Where Heydrich is conviction, as the narrative develops, almost exclusively as table-talk, others are less sure. The range of attendees symbolises the various strains of Nazi culture, which developed over the course of the third reich. For the idealistic of these - the philosopher/technocrat Kritzinger; the legalistic Wilhelm Stuckart and the young soldier Major Lange, there is the dawning realisation of the human catastrophe in which they are complicit.

Technical objections are raised - Stuckhart expounds a ludicrous web of of objections on how the plan breaks the vile race laws he himself architected, and will be an 'administrative nightmare', but they soon realise this is a done deal - most of the mechanisms are already in place. The politically sharp Heydrich only needs to extract expressions of support in order to bind all the orders of Nazi society into equal guilt. During breaks in the proceedings he discreetly buttonholes the wobblers and silences their doubts: by naked threats, or in the case of Lange by invoking the fantasy that what they do is all part of a plan for a better tomorrow. Succumbing to Heydrich's magnetism and realising the dream is pretty much all that is left, Lange allows himself to be persuaded.

The eloquent script captures the delusional, the grotesque and the desparate qualities of the German position at that moment in the war: the calculation that defeat is inevitable, but unthinkable - despite the repeated whimsy of Heydrich that he will return here for a quiet country life once the war is over. He knows that he, and all others present, is headed only into the dark. And it's a one-way journey.