Conspiracy (TV 2001)

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

Director:

Frank Pierson

Writer:

Loring Mandel

Stars:

Kenneth Branagh, Clare Bullus, Stanley Tucci

Won 1 Golden Globe. Another 6 wins & 17 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

The historical recreation of the 1942 Wannsee Conference, in which Nazi and SS leaders gathered in a Berlin suburb to discuss the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question". Lead by SS-General Reinhard Heydrich, this group of high ranking German officials came to the historic and far reaching decision that the Jews of Europe were to be exterminated in what would come to be known as the Holocaust.

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Plot Keywords:

nazi | conference | holocaust | final solution | jew | 

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Taglines:

One Meeting. Six Million Lives.

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Genres:

Drama | History | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

19 May 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Conspiration

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Home Box Office (HBO)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Apart from the record Eichmann plays at the end there is no music in the entire film.

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Goofs

As Heydrich's staff car approaches the Wannsee mansion, a National Identifier plate can clearly be seen, on a holder on the back bumper (showing a 'D' for Deutschland). The country of registration identifier plate (known as the Distinguishing Sign of Vehicle in International Traffic) was introduced by the United Nations in 1949, seven years after the events of the film. In the very next shot the oval holder for the national identifier is still on the bumper, but the D plate itself has disappeared.

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Quotes

[repeated line]
Erich Neumann: Neumann, Director, Office of the Four Year Plan.

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Connections

Version of The Final Solution: The Wannsee Conference (1984)

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Soundtracks

"Adagio from 'String Quintet in C Major', D. 956, op. post. 163"
Composed by Franz Schubert
Performed by Ensemble Villa

User Reviews

Coldly brilliant

The other reviewer her could not be more wrong, and shows a lack of historical knowledge. Heydrich WAS rushing to get through the meeting -- that was why it only lasted 90 minutes! The meeting was not held to plot the Holocost, but rather was a staged production organized by the SS (who already had started planning the final solution and embarked on mass murder at smaller scales 7 months earlier)to obtain administrative and cooperative buy-in from the other facets of the German government, and their recognition of the SS's total authority over carrying it out. And Heydrich was alternatively charming and then abrupt and short: he was head of the Gestapo, after all. Although Branagh is much smaller and better looking than Heydrich was, he does what an actor does -- capture the essence of a presence, the gist of the personality. Likewise, Tucci embodies the "banality of evil" -- a schedule obsessed numbers & detail man, an accountant concerned only with pleasing his superiors and making mass murder efficient, while dissociating himself from the meaning and consequences of his actions.

Although not as well-acted, the German language Wansee Conference is actually a bit better in imparting the agenda-driven business meeting quality of the event. Anyone who has ever been to a business planning meeting (in any business, but especially in government or regulated utility during budget planning time) cannot help but feel sick at the ordinary familiarity of it all. Replace killing people with making and marketing widgets, and you got it.