Conspiracy
by Frank Pierson
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Kenneth Branagh, Stanley TucciDirector: Frank Pierson
Brand: HBO Home Video
Producer: Nick Gillott
Writer: Loring Mandel
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: Unknown
Running Time: 95 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-03-26
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Hbo Home Video
Product features:
- Condition: New
- Format: DVD
- Closed-captioned; Color; DVD; Letterboxed; Subtitled; NTSC
Movie Reviews of Conspiracy
Movie Review: World War II's Corporate Boardroom Meeting
Summary: 5 Stars
In real life, the most evil of deeds are typically done - not on battlefields with elaborate explosions or down-to-the-last-minute red-button-punching - but in boardrooms. Tough to hear? In the corporate world that now ravishes our planet, the evil broods in secrecy around oak tables with those surrounded by power and wealth. I hate to say these things, but it is the truth of our society. That is why I felt a sense of overwhelming horror as I watched "Conspiracy" unfold before my eyes. There were no explosions, no CGI, no eloquent speech made by some overpowering madman - it was a business meeting. A meeting like no other that raised hairs on my neck and demonstrated the power of language. HBO has done it again with this amazingly short film (running at around an hour and a half) about the birth of evil and the construction of genocide. Like no other horror or suspense film, "Conspiracy" draws from the unknown, but is purely historical.
"Conspiracy" is a talking film, so to make sure audiences do not fall asleep through the eloquent words, it is helmed by two masters of the cinematic trade - Kenneth Branagh and Stanley Tucci. Together, these two plus a cast that had to be hand selected as the "best of the best", give us one of the scariest moments in our world's history - the planning of the death of millions of Jews. In a boardroom, not unlike ones we have seen in nearly every film, director Frank Pierson gives us faces, language, events, and decisions made leading to the most hideous moment of our history. As mentioned, helmed by two masters, we are taken back to a world filled with hared and laws, and through the course of the two hours new laws are created and a new "evacuation" process is decided. Our players, all facets of the German government, enter through lavish doors, eat elaborate meals, drink fascinating wine, and smoke elusive cigars as they argue laws, rules, Hitler's wish, but never humanity. Enemies are made, men are instantly transformed from typical followers of the government into monumental evil-doers of history - all through the course of a meal. Rather an average day for a very non-typical gathering.
The story is simple. The words are the true leaders, while those speaking them gives performances of a lifetime. This is not a light film in anyway. The gorgeous scenery (or what little we see of it) sets the mood of the day, while the meal - to me - gives us the sense of cannibals, or animals, after a major defeat. What appealed to me the most of this film was the genius - and I hate to use this word - behind Heydrich and Eichmann, from the beginning of the film they knew who they were working with, what they day would entail, and how to make sure that each of their constituents would agree on the final solution. It was a forum of power, an expression of the truth, and a simple two hours that would result in decades of horror. I enjoyed this film, not because of the true historic overall result, but how it was put together, the players, and the raw energy that emoted from this simple hour and a half. I apologize for over-emphasizing the time frame, but it was shocking to me to see the history pages written in just this short amount of time. As stated before, Branagh was nothing short of amazing, the eloquence of his words (again - words were important in this film), the sharp intellect, and strong ability to sell anyone into anything coupled well with the quiet, pencil-pushing man that Tucci portrayed as Eichmann. These two carried this film, but not without the help of Ian McNeice, Colin Firth, Owen Teale, or Kevin McNally to name just a few. This was an ensemble feature, and everyone pulled their weight to create this devastatingly shocking film. This film, the style of the camera that Pierson used, reminded me of a retelling of "Twelve Angry Men". That too was a wordy film, creating the tension with nouns and verbs, instead of the over-hyped CGI.
My only complaint, isn't with the film at all, but the lack of special features. HBO typically doesn't go too overboard with their special features, and this is a prime example. I would have loved to have an audio commentary or two to discuss the true historical elements or to hear how Pierson was able to control his actors and bring out so much from them in such a small area. I think it would have benefited viewers further to get a "history" lesson, instead of the typical interviews with actors saying how "honoring" it was to play such a character. I could have used without that. Nothing else included, but maybe it would have overshadowed the power of this film ... hmmmm?
Overall, I cannot say this enough, but this was a spectacular film. Whether you watch it for the historical element or for the sheer brilliance of the actors, you will not be disappointed. This was a dark two hours for the world, which engulfed a race for a very long time. This was the boardroom of evil, equipped with a full supply of wine, cigars, and a plan for "evacuation".
It just terrifies me that it all began with just a simple "storage" problem - how could we do it?
Grade: ***** out of *****
Summary of Conspiracy
By the winter of 1942, Hitler's dream of Aryan supremacy had become a nightmare. His armies could be found freezing and starving on the Eastern front, and America's fighting forces had just entered the war to the West. On January 20th of that year, 15 officials attended a conference at Wannsee on the outskirts of Berlin. Comprised of mid-ranking SS commanders and a variety of government ministers, the meeting was organized by SS Major Adolf Eichman, under the direction of the ruthless and efficient Chief of Security Reinhard Heydrich. It was to be a polite conference with food, wine and some debate, but beneath this thin veneer of manners lay an evil intent. By the meeting's close, the fate of six million lives would be decided, and a terrible machine put into operation that would alter the shape of the world. Conspiracy is based on the only surviving record of that meeting. It would be the blueprint for Hitler's "final solution."On 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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