Conspiracy
by Frank Pierson
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DVD details
Actor: Clare Bullus, David Glover, Kenneth Branagh, Simon Markey, Stanley TucciDirector: Frank Pierson
Producer: Frank Pierson
Producer: C. Cory M. McCrum-Abdo
Producer: David M. Thompson
Producer: Frank Doelger
Producer: Nick Gillott
Producer: Peter Zinner
Writer: Loring Mandel
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 96 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-03-26
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Hbo Home Video
DVD Reviews of Conspiracy
DVD Review: Conspiracy
Summary: 5 Stars
An eclectic group of fifteen men gathered in a former Jewish residence, at distance from the fighting, in order to solve a most troublesome, petulant quandary, the Jewish question. Called upon by Hitler, as the German army became sessile in their drive toward Moscow, the conference concludes in the creation of legal framework designed to remove the Jewish population.Interrupted by smoking, gorging and underhanded, persuasive techniques they determined the fate and solution to the Jewish problem and lead ultimately to the demise of millions of innocents. Over two hours, and with ample supply of spirit and fare, the techniques for excision, eradication, and extermination of the Jews became a reality.
Although the Germans were meticulous in their obsessive record keeping, the Wannsee conference was documented in short; the only surviving manuscript the basis for this film. However, it is the meticulous cold hearted recording of laws establishing Jew from non-Jew which communicates the depravity of the Nazi mindset, portraying them as a true species of brutality.
Long sequences of dialogue restricted to a small set comprise the majority of the film. The one break in the dialogue is a wide panning shot across a cold desolate landscape capturing the approach of General Heydrich, who called the meeting under the pretext of deporting the Jews from Europe. While the film does not flash mutilated corpses in hopes of stirring some sense of sympathetic guilt, it instead casts a calculated demeanor on the faces of the characters. Sitting at the center of the table Heydrich announces to the group the number of Jews remaining in German controlled territory. Displaying charts and figures of the Jews still in need of "transport" the dehumanization becomes vividly apparent. Before such accommodations are finalized they calculate with cruel subjectivism the specific traits and relationships which denote a Jew. From this conversation the audience learns that a small majority of Germans and German families are to be disassembled and dealt with in a manner comparable to an animal to the slaughter. Those who object to the "evacuation" of the Jews, namely Kritzinger and Stuckart are humored, for the decision to build camps and gassing facilities is not truly dependent on the proceedings of the confrence but rather the available labor to construct such infrastructure. The gas chambers and sterilization methods have been proven through rigorous trials on the mentally defunct, and they joke turning the bodies pink.
"Conspiracy" is not only an amazing historical account but also chilling in the unconventional mathematically cold fa?ade employed by the cast. Captivating without an action hero or machine gun fire, this film is truly worth the 90+ minutes. Prepare to explore the realms of human depravity in this thrilling historical thriller.
DVD Review: The banality of evil
Summary: 5 Stars
More terrifying than Alien, in the sense that you will find the banality of evil to be all the more chilling than the most horrific looking space monster. The Wansee conference, which decided the Final Solution, is brilliantly recreated here. No "mwahahaahaha" supervillians - rather, evil men in crisp and pristine suits and uniforms. Excellent movie, with great performances. C'mon, Branagh and Tucci, fine actors both.DVD Review: Something we all ought to see
Summary: 5 Stars
In January 1942, at an elegant villa at Berlin-Wannsee, a group of Nazi officials from various ministries and departments, the majority educated, cultured men, many with higher degrees, came together under the chairmanship of SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Reinhard Heydrich, head of the RSHA (Reich Main Security Office, which covered all of Germany's police forces). In a few hours, which included some elegant dining, they basically decided the fate of European Jewry. It was as if they were deciding on a programme of vermin extermination, which, in the eyes of fanatical Nazis, it was. No consideration of the humanity of these people was given. Herr Dr. Stuckart, lawyer and proud author of the Nuremburg Racial Laws, was concerned with their proper, meticulous observance. This was his sole bone of contention, not the basic fact that an entire group of humans was to be marginalised and deported from the Reich, not because of anything they'd done, but because of who they were. Indeed, the only minor concessions were those who were had "German" (non-Jewish) spouses and "Mischlinge" (mixed race people). Of all the many inhumanities of man to man, this surely ranks as one of, if not the, greatest iniquities ever perpetrated.
This meeting was not only to decide on the Final Solution, but also to establish the supremacy of the RSHA over all other German departments in the matter. And Heydrich, with the help of his Hebrew-speaking time-and-motion man Adolf Eichmann, got what he wanted.
Having recently read Mark Roseman's "The lake, the villa, the meeting" and now knowing how little we know about what was actually said at Wannsee (only one protocol survives and the accounts of the survivors are probably self-serving and justifying), I was curious as to how one produced a dramatised version. The answer is, very impressively. Naturally nobody knows what was really said, as all notes and records were destroyed, but the whole production has the ring of truth about it.
In the middle of it all was ringmaster Reinhard Heydrich, chillingly played here by Kenneth Branagh. Heydrich works his potential opponents, sometimes in the meeting, sometimes in quiet asides over food. The geniality of the Branagh character was probably much more that that of the real Heydrich, who had the reputation of being somewhat of a cold fish and a thoroughly nasty individual, but it's a wonderful performance, with steel under the geniality, rapidly emerging at the first hint of resistance to his ideas.
All in all, a nicely-acted, chilling production of a monstrous misdeed, and it all happened within living memory in one of the world's most civilised, cultured countries. If that doesn't scare you, nothing will. Could it happen again? Of course it could, so we must always be on our guard against people who know all the answers.
One minor irritation for finicky me. The opening scene has a view of Heydrich's plane coming in to land, taken from above. The wings bear swastikas, instead of the Luftwaffe's "Balkenkreuz" (the swastika was placed only on vertical tail surfaces). Perhaps the producers saw the need to use the symbol of evil to set the scene right from the start.
DVD Review: Conspiracy with Kenneth Branagh
Summary: 1 Stars
Never received product. I e-mailed seller, dvdlegacy, and they never responded. Amazon issued a refund. DVD Review: Excellent and intense movie
Summary: 5 Stars
If your into WWII or Nazi Germany movies this is the type of movie you would like, based on a true story comes this movie which depics a meeting among many high leaders of the third reich (political, social, military, cultural, etc.) under the Fhurer instructions in order to decide the fate of the Jews population, here is where the final solution was agreed, the movie goes on all in the same location but the arguments, the debates, the historical facts, makes it so intense that you don't even feel the tedious of being in the same house all the time. If you would it may be similar to those Nuremberg Trial movies but here is an open free debate where the Jews are consider a thing or an illness that they need to get rid off.
Outstanding is the characterization by Keneth Branagh of General Heydrich, ruthless, cold but overall showing them as thinkers a different view as of the madness of Nazis beleived by the public.
Description of Conspiracy
On january 20 1942 at the height of the second world war 15 government officials and ss commanders attended a conference on the outskirts of berlin. It was a simple meeting which by the end would decide the fate of six million lives. Conspiracy is based on the only surviving record of that meeting. Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 03/29/2005 Starring: Kenneth Branagh Colin Firth Run time: 96 minutes Rating: R Director: Frank PiersoOn January 20, 1942, with the tide of war turning in favor of the Allies, a small group of SS officers, government ministers, and Nazi officials met near Berlin to decide the fate of Europe's Jews. Based on the only surviving record of that meeting, Conspiracy is a powerful combination of historical reconstruction and speculation that attempts to offer new insights into a pivotal moment in history.
The cast does a marvelous job of fleshing out the documentary evidence to create convincing characters. Kenneth Branagh is especially chilling as SS Chief of Security Reinhard Heydrich, who uses a combination of charm and ruthless power-mongering to gain support for his plans. Colin Firth is fascinating as Wilhelm Stuckart, a lawyer who sees the brutal tactics of the SS as a threat to his own intellectualized anti-Semitism, and Stanley Tucci gives a wonderfully understated performance as Adolf Eichmann.
Conspiracy is a carefully crafted, completely unsensational film that offers ample proof of the banality of evil. There are no histrionics and no comic-book Nazi villains, just a small group of politicians and war-weary soldiers arguing about the meaning of words and the logistics of extermination, calmly preparing to unleash an unimaginable horror on the world. --Simon Leake
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