Conspiracy (2001 film)
Conspiracy | |
---|---|
Written by | Loring Mandel |
Directed by | Frank Pierson |
Starring | Kenneth Branagh Stanley Tucci Colin Firth Ian McNeice Kevin McNally David Threlfall |
Composer | Dennis McCarthy |
Country of origin | United Kingdom United States |
Original languages | English German |
Production | |
Producers | Nick Gillott Frank Pierson |
Cinematography | Stephen Goldblatt |
Editor | Peter Zinner |
Running time | 96 minutes |
Production companies | BBC HBO Films |
Original release | |
Network | HBO |
Release | 19 May 2001 |
Conspiracy is a 2001 made-for-television drama film that dramatises the 1942 Wannsee Conference. Using the authentic script taken from the only surviving transcript recorded during the meeting, the film delves into the psychology of Nazi officials involved in the "Final Solution of the Jewish question" during World War II.
The film was written by Loring Mandel and directed by Frank Pierson. Its ensemble cast includes Kenneth Branagh, Stanley Tucci, Colin Firth and David Threlfall. Branagh won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor, and Tucci was awarded a Golden Globe Award for his supporting role.
Plot
On 20 January 1942, Nazi officials hold a conference at a villa in Wannsee, a wealthy district on the outskirts of Berlin, to determine the method by which they will make Germany's territory free of Jews, including the occupied countries of Poland, Reichskommissariat Ostland, Czechoslovakia and France.
Chairing the meeting is
The men discuss
SS-
Throughout the meeting and over refreshments attendees raise other side issues, reflecting the interests of their respective work areas, including concerns that cholera and typhus could break out from the overpopulated ghettos in Poland. A break is called and this time it is Kritzinger's turn to be taken aside and intimidated by Heydrich. Kritzinger realizes that any hopes he had of assuring liveable conditions for the Jewish population are unrealistic. In return, he tells Heydrich a cautionary tale about a man consumed by hatred of his father, so much so that his life loses its meaning once his father dies. Heydrich later interprets this as a warning that a similar fate awaits them.
Heydrich then recalls and concludes the meeting. He also asks for explicit assent and support from each official, one by one. After giving careful instructions on the secrecy of the minutes and notes of the meeting, they adjourn and begin to depart.
As the officials depart, a brief account of the fate of each one is given. Most of the members either died during the war or were arrested immediately after; two,
Cast
- Deputy Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia.
- Stanley Tucci as SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann: Head of RSHA IV B4.
- Colin Firth as SS-Brigadeführer Dr Wilhelm Stuckart: State Secretary, Reich Ministry for the Interior.
- Party Chancellery.
- Kevin McNally as Martin Luther: Undersecretary and SS liaison, Foreign Ministry.
- David Threlfall as Ministerialdirektor Friedrich Wilhelm Kritzinger: Deputy Head, Reich Chancellery.
- Ewan Stewart as Dr Georg Leibbrandt: Head of Political Department, Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories.
- Brian Pettifer as Gauleiter Dr Alfred Meyer: Deputy Reich Minister, Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories.
- SS Race and Settlement Main Office.
- Jonathan Coy as SS-Sturmbannführer Erich Neumann: Director, Office of the Four Year Plan.
- Brendan Coyle as SS-Gruppenführer Heinrich Müller: Chief of RSHA Department IV (the Gestapo).
- Ben Daniels as Dr Josef Bühler: State Secretary for the General Government of occupied Poland.
- Barnaby Kay as SS-Sturmbannführer Dr Rudolf Lange: Commander of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) in Latvia.
- Reich Ministry of Justice.
- Peter Sullivan as SS-Oberführer Dr Karl Eberhard Schöngarth: SD officer assigned to the General Government.
Additional cast members include:
- Tom Hiddleston, in one of his first film roles, briefly appears in the beginning and end as a telephone operator.
- Ross O'Hennessy, appears in the beginning and middle as the SS Officer in charge of the Building.
Reception
Critical reception
Conspiracy has a 100% approval rating from 7 critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.[1]
James Rampton in The Independent praised the film:
"Showing as part of the BBC's commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day, Frank Pierson's film underscores only too well the old maxim that evil prospers when good men do nothing."
— James Rampton[2]
An impressed Austin Film Society had a lengthy review of the film and details about its making.[3]
Awards and nominations
See also
- The Wannsee Conference, a 1984 German TV film
- Die Wannseekonferenz, a German TV docudrama
- List of Holocaust films
- List of conspiracy thriller films
References
- ^ "Conspiracy". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on 23 October 2005. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
- ^ Rampton, James (19 January 2002). "Conspiracy review". The Independent. London: Independent Print Ltd.
- ^ Raymond, Christian. "Conspiracy". Austin Film Society. Austin, Texas. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
- ^ "2001 Artios Awards". www.castingsociety.com. 4 October 2001. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
- ^ "5th Annual Television Awards (2000-01)". Online Film & Television Association. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
- ^ "Conspiracy". Peabody Awards. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
- ^ "Conspiracy". Emmys.com. Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
- ^ "AFI Awards 2001". Retrieved 10 July 2023.
- ^ "54th DGA Awards". Directors Guild of America Awards. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
- ^ "Conspiracy – Golden Globes". Golden Globe Awards. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
- ^ "International Press Academy website – 2002 6th Annual SATELLITE Awards". Archived from the original on 1 February 2008.
- ^ "WGA Awards 2002". Writers Guild of America Awards. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
- BAFTA. 2003. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
External links
- Conspiracy at IMDb
- Conspiracy at AllMovie
- Conspiracy at the TCM Movie Database