Conspiracy (2001) (TV)

Director:

Frank Pierson

Writer (WGA):

Loring Mandel (written by)

Release Date:

19 May 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | War

Tagline:

One Of The Greatest Crimes Against Humanity Was Perpetrated In Just Over An Hour.

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Nazi | Holocaust | Conference | Lawyer | SS

Awards:

Won Golden Globe. Another 6 wins & 17 nominations

Cast

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

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English | German

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Iceland:12 | Finland:K-3 | Canada:14+ (Ontario) | Australia:M | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

The film's closing epilogue states that Undersecretary Martin Luther's (in this film played by Kevin McNally copy of the Wansee Conference minutes was discovered in the files of the German Foreign office by American Investigators in 1947. It is the only record of the Wansee Conference meeting in existence that survives today.

Goofs:

Continuity: Just before General Hofmann becomes ill and excuses himself, Adolf Eichman lights his cigarette twice.

Quotes:

Kritzinger: Major Lange? You were those 30,000 you say you shot? You say, *you* shot?
Lange: Yes. In Riga, Latvia. 27,800 I have some responsibility for. And sat back and watched as Latvian mobs killed en masse. I received a directive ordering the so-called "evacuation" of Jews who, shot and buried, managed to crawl out still alive. Not exactly war, is it? And with gas chambers about to come?
Kritzinger: What gas chambers? Gas chambers?
Lange: I hear rumors, yes.
Kritzinger: This is more than war. Must be another word for this.
Lange: Try chaos.
Kritzinger: Yes, one of the curses of my profession.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 59th Annual Golden Globe Awards (2002) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Adagio from 'String Quintet in C Major', D. 956, op. post. 163

A remarkable and fascinating film with excellent performances from a largely unknown cast

This is a very well-done and memorable film that chills you to the bone as you listen a group of men sometimes happily discuss genocide! There are excellent performances from a cast with few well-known, familiar names, but Stanley Tucci as Eichmann and Kenneth Branagh as Heydrich particularly shine. Given the history of the two men they portray (neither one terribly pleasant but, fittingly, neither were their ends), the performances are all the more disturbing by their understated nature. An excellent film. Most highly recommended.