At the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942, senior Nazi officials meet to determine the manner in which the so-called "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" can be best implemented.At the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942, senior Nazi officials meet to determine the manner in which the so-called "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" can be best implemented.At the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942, senior Nazi officials meet to determine the manner in which the so-called "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" can be best implemented.
- Won 2 Primetime Emmys
- 7 wins & 21 nominations total
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- (as Ross O'Hennessey)
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Featured reviews
Gen. Heidrich with consumate skill and care manipulated the gathered Nazi hierarchy to the pre-arranged and pre-destined solution to the Jewish question.
There are a number of moments of exceptional power in the movie - one is where Kritzinger realises the truth, another is where Heidrich makes it clear to Shtukhard that he will be victimised if he does not cooperate. But the best moment must be when even those in favour realise that they are not there to decide the matter but to be to lend their complicity to the pre-made decision.
The psychology of the writing is insprired. I have never been so totally captivated by the mix of acting, subject matter and drama. This is a must see.
No question here—finely made, piercing and disturbing movie made with high realism about a famous Nazi meeting where it become official policy to exterminate the Jews of Europe.
That's enough to make watching it necessary—at least the first half hour, where the cold-blooded tone and the top-down enforcement of brutality (over the wimpy objects of a few at the meeting) are made clear and chilling.
Kenneth Brannagh is almost too brilliant at his role, playing the smart, unyielding, pushy yet conniving officer at the head of his meeting. He's so natural and so not overacting it's terrific. Equally strong in his lesser role as the notorious Eichmann is Stanley Tucci (whose atrocities would only grow as the war wore on—the officer in charge of the meeting was soon assassinated by a pair of British experts).
You'll note Colin Firth in a slightly more sympathetic role as Dr. Stuckart— Stuckart hates the Jews but only enough to want to sterilize all 11 million of the, not kill them. And the actor Brendan Coyle known as Mr. Bates in "Downton Abbey" makes a supporting appearance here, a decade earlier.
Tightly filmed, scripted according to one surviving set of notes from the proceedings, and played with efficiency, this is a great fast entry into the minds of the Third Reich. Thoroughly impressive.
That doesn't mean it's a totally "great" film in part because if its intentions. It recreates the meeting but the meeting, as drama, is more historically interesting than actual theater—or Hollywood. It has a lot of convincing talk, and a lot of the same evil themes and attitudes throughout. After awhile it isn't so much about dramatic development but about seeing how the history might have actually looked.
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.
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.
15 officials from various departments were in attendance, chaired by SS Chief of Security Reinhard Heydrich (Kenneth Branagh) and SS Major Adolf Eichmann (Stanley Tucci), and has in its members several lawmakers and doctors. They sit and debate (well, not much of a debate actually) the notion of evacuating (read: Eliminate) the Jews, and you'll probably witness how casual it all sounded to some of the members.
It was interesting to see how Heydrich cajoled everyone into agreeing to his plans, by hook or by crook. And it's very chilling to see how semantics were danced about, and how methods were discussed as if it was a process so trivial - the building of concentration camps, the techniques of gassing and how to perform it, the statistics of the kill that would have them reach their target numbers intended.
Based on a surviving record of that meeting, despite the fact that the minutes are to be read, memorized and destroyed, this HBOfilm is a good watch to peek into the decision making process, into that stain in human history, and the unthinkable evil that humans are capable of.
If you're a fan of Downfall, then perhaps this depiction of history will interest you.
Did you know
- TriviaSince detailed records of the Wannsee Conference did not survive World War II, minor details of the movie (such as the seating arrangement at the conference table, what was actually served for lunch, and who was wearing a uniform compared to who wasn't) were totally up to the guess of the producers, and not based on any historical evidence. The producers and writer did have access to more primary material than it might seem at first. During his trial in Israel, Adolf Eichmann provided many details about the subject of the movie, even down to specific conversations, the general tone of the meeting, and other details. In particular, it's worth noting that a good bit of the dialogue in the movie is lifted verbatim from relevant memos and speeches by Nazi officials that were preserved, are part of the historical record, and cited by numerous sources. Many specific locutions used by the men in the movie can be found as cited, for instance, in Gitta Sereny's book "Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth" as well as other sources. The single-page, neutered summary of the meeting that survived in the files of the German Foreign Office is far from the only primary source used by the filmmakers.
- GoofsAt the beginning of the film, place cards are being made using the traditional Germanic Gothic, or "Fraktur" font. Although the font was initially used by the Nazis, it was claimed in 1941 to be "Judenlettern" (Jewish letters) by Martin Bormann himself, who banned its use. The movie takes place in 1942.
- Quotes
Müller: Perhaps the judge has a special love for them?
Klopfer: [mutters appreciatively] Yes, yes a special love for them... very good...
Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart: For whom? For Jews? Wonderful, you don't have my credentials. Forgive me, from your uniform I can infer that you're shallow, ignorant and naive about the Jews. Your line, what the party rants on about is how inferior they are, some-some-some sub-species, and I keep saying how wrong that is! They are sublimely clever. And they are intelligent as well. My indictments to that race are stronger and heavier because they are real, not uneducated ideology. They are arrogant and self-obsessed and calculating and reject the Christ and I will not have them pollute German blood!
General Reinhard Heydrich: [tries to calm Stuckart down] Please, Doctor...
Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart: He doesn't understand! And neither do his people. Deal with the reality of the Jew and the world will applaud us. Treat them as imaginary phantoms, evil in human fantasies, and the world would have justified contempt for us! To kill them casually without regard for the law martyrs them, which will be their victory! Sterilization recognizes them as a part of our species but prevents them from being a part of our race. They'll disappear soon enough. And we will have acted in defense of our race and of our species and by the law! This fellow mentioned the law for the protection of German blood, *I wrote that law*! When you have my credentials then we'll talk about who loves the Jews and who hates them. Pigs don't know how to hate. I know, too, that when it comes to the half-mixed, that to kill them abandons that half of their blood which is German.
Klopfer: I'll remember you.
Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart: You should. I'm very well known.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The 53rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (2001)
- SoundtracksString Quintet in C Major', D.956: Adagio
Written by Franz Schubert
Performed by Ensemble Villa Musica
courtesy of Naxos of America
by arrangement with Source Q
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Konspirationen
- Filming locations
- Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz, Am Grossen Wannsee 56-58, Zehlendorf, Berlin, Germany(Conference Building)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 36 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.78 : 1
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