Conspiracy (DVD)

A terrible reminder that this is our human race. This is US, folks. Capable of the most despicable and inhumane actions one can ever conceive of- as exemplified here by Kenneth Branaugh's Reinhard Heydrich who was nicknamed by Hitler - by HITLER, mind you - as "The Man with the Iron Heart".Through superb and nuanced acting we are reminded that, at least genetically, the creatures who behave as if they are at a business meeting in sumptuous surroundings are actually human beings. Through trying to appear as alpha-man as possible through obsession with rank and such things as constant "Heil Hitler" acknowledgments, you see the human ego playing at its childish clubhouse-like "reindeer games".The most terrifying experience throughout the production is that one has to keep reminding oneself that - this is REAL. These people really existed, and their terrible plan, of course, really did happen.It's tempting to think of the thugs; "Who ARE THESE PEOPLE!?" with the devastating answer that they are indeed, us. But is this merely a group of psycho-sociopaths who have all found each other? Not likely, as outside of that room, millions of people were swept up in the same mania, albeit to different degrees. No, this is in our dna. It's not just "The Germans", or even just the SS.I look around at the way our contemporary world is swinging to the right, and I'm grateful for productions like this to give an excellent frame of reference. An awful and unfortunate one of course- but a reliable, accurate, honest, and thorough one. Try not to blink.

I recently purchased from Amazon Video what turned out to be one of the most absorbing and fascinating historical dramas I have seen in a very long time.The film is “Conspiracy,” a 2001 made-for-television docudrama from HBO. It tells the story of the Wannsee Conference of 1942, a notorious gathering of senior Nazi government officials who finalized plans for Hitler’s “Final Solution” – the extermination of six million European Jews. “Conspiracy” stars, among others, Kenneth Branagh, Stanley Tucci, Colin Firth, and David Threlfall. Based in part upon the sole surviving transcript of the Wannsee Conference, it is an extraordinary film that both educates and entertains.In January 1942, a group of high- and mid-ranking Nazi SS officers and civilian government bureaucrats gathered around a massive conference table at a villa in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee, to discuss ways of implementing Adolf Hitler’s long-planned “Final Solution.” Reinhard Heydrich (Branagh), one of Hitler’s most senior Nazi officials, called the meeting at Hitler’s behest. Lt Col Adolf Eichmann (Tucci), of later international infamy, organized the conference and served as its recording secretary.As “Conspiracy” shows, these men discussed the “Final Solution” in great detail – personnel, logistics, the building of extermination camps, and the mind-boggling numbers of Jews to be eventually exterminated were just a few of the topics. What’s especially chilling is how these men talked about these subjects with a complete lack of conscience, or even an awareness of the enormous crimes against humanity they were conspiring to commit. With very few exceptions, every conference attendee spoke enthusiastically in favor of the proposed plan. Only one man – Dr. Wilhelm Kritzinger (Threlfall) – expressed any moral or ethical reservations about it, and he did so only in a private conversation with Heydrich.Although “Conspiracy” is strictly a dialogue film – the only “action” scenes are of a waiter dropping a stack of fine china dinner plates, and of a snowball fight among enlisted soldiers – it is far from dull. The acting is first-rate, the screenplay moves the story forward at a fast pace, and the subject matter is utterly fascinating.Watching “Conspiracy,” I learned a lot about how the Nazis planned for and implemented the most heinous and horrific crimes ever committed against humanity. “Conspiracy” is a film that should be seen by everyone. Most highly recommended.

****1/2SPOILER ALERT:This review does contain plot elements, but, seriously, it's history; we all know what the Germans did during WWII.The Holocaust was, quite simply, the industrialization of murder. Well, the Wannsee Conference was the board meeting, and the attendees were the directors. The chairman of the board: Reinhard Heydrich, played by Kenneth Branagh in what must be one of the finest performances of his rather distinguished career.This is not an action movie. There are no explosions, no gunshots. Very little actually *happens* in its 96-minute run time. But it is no less compelling for this. As a dialogue-driven movie, the script and the casting are both vitally important, and in both aspects this film is excellent. The film is riveting, chilling, and poignant, and should be considered a must-see, especially by anyone with an interest in history."Conspiracy" is a virtually minute-by-minute recreation of the meeting that took place on 20 January 1942, at Wannsee, a suburb of Berlin. At that meeting, the fate of millions of people was decided, but to those who attended it, it was essentially no more or less than a board meeting, as if they were discussing whether or not to build a new factory somewhere. Jews had been dehumanized so successfully in Nazi Germany that throughout the meeting, they are reduced to numbers, mere statistics; at the bottom line, 11 million Jews have presented a bit of a "storage problem" to the Reich.These people, the attendees of the conference, took about 90 minutes to decide on a solution to the problem. In truth, the decision had already been made, and indeed, the ghastly mechanics of the 'final solution' were put into operation on a limited scale months before the conference even took place. The real purpose of the meeting, as the movie illustrates, was actually to take these people and get them all on the same page, and to make it clear to those who might not agree to support the extermination of the Jews that, to paraphrase Heydrich, "this is how it's going to be, and you'd better get on board. Or else." Heydrich, for his part, is quite a charismatic fellow, even when he's bullying somebody else into agreement, and Branagh brings a performance to the role that is at once both intimidating and chummy, and entirely chilling in all aspects.The other attendees (who, without exception, are brilliantly cast, though Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci are the standouts) approach the discussion with a variety of views on the subject, some even with a creepifying levity, but at the end of the day, even the "good guys" (in a relative sense) who oppose outright extermination still are vocally expressing their disdain for the Jews and are at the meeting to decide the best way to remove an entire ethnic group from the human race.And it's all dealt with as though they were making a business decison. In truth, that's exactly what they would have told you they were doing.