"Speer und er" is a German mini-series from 2005, so this one is already over a decade old. It was written and directed by Heinrich Breloer and as he was not exactly too prolific in the last years, it is still one of his most recent career effort. He will return with a new mini series focusing on Bertolt Brecht soon. But back to this one here, it consists of three episodes of roughly 90 minutes each, so the entire thing runs for 4.5 hours. The title characters are played by Sebastian Koch and Tobias Moretti. But Koch's Speer is certainly much more in the center of it all, especially in chapters 2 and 3. This is actually from one year before Koch starred in the Oscar-winning "Das Leben der Anderen". The structure here is pretty clean. The first 90 minutes are about Speer's rise next to Hitler, the second 90 minutes are about the trial against him and the final installment is about his life as a prisoner. I believe quality-wise all chapters are pretty much on the same high level. Subjective taste and personal preference will decide which of the three is your favorite. I think my favorite is the first because Moretti's Hitler was great too and I just like Nazi films in general. But the third chapter was also really good when his involvement is discussed in detail or the second with all the other Nazis in Nuremberg and the genuinely very tense moment when the sentence is announced and this one is probably even more effective if you don't know about him not being given the death penalty. Another crucial component in these 4.5 hours is the documentary aspect. There are many many video recordings, photos and interviews included in here, with Speer's children especially and these may be the most interesting non-acted parts. Also during these interviews the subject of guilt is not just present, but dominant from start to finish. I think this three-part film made a good statement when it comes to Speer enjoying his rise to power, but also not losing his artistic approach out of sight. Is he evil? No. Is he innocent? No. The exact position between these two extremes is up for interpretation in Speer's case. Once again, your subjective opinion is crucial. This film provides all the information you need to make a judgment. It was certainly a good watch and I recommend checking it out. Thums up.
Review of Speer und er
