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Conspiracy [2001] (REGION 1) (NTSC)


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

Based on the only surviving record of the infamous 1942 Wannsee Conference, the BBC/HBO produced Conspiracy reconstructs the two-hour meeting during which leading members of the SS and the Nazi government made definitive plans for the genocide of Europe's Jews. Sixteen men sit around a table and politely discuss the mechanics and ramifications of murdering millions. As SS General Reinhard Heydrich, overall architect of the Final Solution, Kenneth Branagh is brilliant, charming, manipulative and threatening, a cultured man seemingly without a soul. As his aid, SS Colonel Adolf Eichmann, Stanley Tucci is the incarnation of the banality of evil, an efficient and self-effacing bureaucrat in a fine performance marred only by a hint of the actor's American accent. Colin Firth is a powerful foil for Branagh as Dr Wilhelm Stuckart, author of Nazi Germany's race laws and a stickler for the rule of law, no matter how insane the law may have become; while David Threlfall makes a striking impression as the one man who comes closest to taking a moral stand, Dr Wilhelm Kritzinger. Directed in an elegantly controlled style by Frank Pierson, Conspiracy is the Janus face of the 1957 classic 12 Angry Men and a chilling companion to the BBC/HBO Churchill drama The Gathering Storm (2002).

On the DVD: Conspiracy comes to DVD with text profiles of the four leading actors and the director and two featurettes, one running two minutes, the other four, neither of which is any more than an electronic press-kit. Sound is clear, perfectly good Dolby Surround, while the picture, though anamorphically enhanced at 16:9, is no more than adequate. --Gary S Dalkin


A brilliant film depicting how utterly evil man can be.
Review date: 2008-07-24 Rating: 10 out of 10

I was asked by someone who had watched 'Conspiracy' why the Nazis "hated" the Jews and wanted them wiped off the planet - and to be truthful, I could not give a clear answer. This docudrama does not give the answer either (other than the abstract 'storage problem'), but what it does highlight is the utter coldness and inhuman manner in which the Nazis dealt with what they perceived to be a problem. I have no reason to doubt that the film was based on the only surviving record of that infamous meeting and whilst that record cannot tell us of the "personality" of the various individuals present, the performances by all the actors is excellent. In particular, Kenneth Branagh delivers an acting 'tour de force' with some great dialogue that occassionally left you cold - "You would be a hard man to bring down - but not impossible". When that kind of line is delivered to you by the man who was head of Reich Security, I'm sure you would not miss the point. Finally, I recently read 'State of Fear' by Michael Crichton and he makes reference in the appendix to a word I had never heard before. That word is 'Eugenics'. I've subsequently looked into that term and now I have a clearer understanding of exactly what the Nazis and The Final Solution was all about.

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Reviews


Unseen DVD
Review date: 2008-05-12 Rating: 2 out of 10

I cannot review Conspiracy because my rental DVD would not play. The screen said the disk was dirty but I couldn't clean it. I also cannot find a way of reporting this to you as the system only responds to the current disk you have sent after I returned Conspiracy. I included a note asking for a replacement disk but you have ignored this.

Please send a replacement DVD of Conspiracy so I may view what I have paid for. Philip Wilson

Everyone should watch this
Review date: 2008-02-27 Rating: 10 out of 10

Quite simply this is a chilling. It should be mandatory viewing for all secondary school pupils - I encouraged my own 13 year old daughter to watch it recently - and indeed required viewing for anyone who thinks that "things like this" do not happen. They do - and they are arranged (or in this case ratified - in reality it was already a "done deal") in apparently banal and innocent situations such as around a table enjoying a sumptious lunch with fine wine and cigars.

Some of the dialogue is truly shocking - and yet, to the best of the historians' knowledge, it is faithful representation of what went on that day. There are parts that deal with "technicalities" of race, or at least the definition of race, and the laws drafted several years before and their relation to "the Jewish question" as it is being debated by Heydrich et al. There are other parts which are dripping with what can only be described as black humour, though is nothing to laugh at here - quite the opposite.

To give one example of what I mean:

"Do they [the Jews] even have a hell?"
"They do now - we provide it".

These lines delivered with a razor-sharp seriousness completely devoid of any sense of sarcasm or humour. Quite simply when he (Heydrich) says "They do now - we provide it" he means it.

There are some dissenters around the table, but they are few and far between - and in reality their dissent is never taken seriously as we realise that they have no choice but to go along with the plans that have already been made. It is not just history than makes us think this - in some ways it is possible to watch this as if one knows nothing, putting yourself in that time and that place - it is the way Heydrich uses his power, influence and insinuated threats to make sure everyone toes his line whether they want to or not. Heydrich charms some and threatens others so that in the end everyone knows what the proposed fate of every Jew in Europe now is.

And so we find ourselves asking the question "what would I have said/done in their place when faced with the Nazi machine?" It would have taken a brave - or perhaps suicidally foolish - person to have been able to make a stand against what was being endorsed around the table at Wannsee.

I could watch this again and again and never tire of seeing it and that's important. Because the day we become immune to the fact that this like this happened - and are still happening - the human race will have lost its very soul.



Shocking, chilling, stunning and brilliant
Review date: 2007-12-14 Rating: 10 out of 10

In 1942, 15 high ranking Nazi officials sit down to decide the fate of 'the jews of europe'. Can Reinhard Heydrich (Kenneth Branagh) and Adolf Eichmann (Stanley Tucci) get unanamous agreement to commit mass murder or can Wilhelm Kritzinger (David Threlfal) and Wilhem Stuckart (Colin Firth) rally enough support to stop this ??? Certainly there is a big division of opinion, but do most of those against have their own ulterior motives ??

Apart from the shocking subject material, the meeting is also a clash of wills between the The General Government, The Nazi Party, The Military and The SS. With some delegates being members of more than one camp, it becomes clear that meeting is all about 'power'. Heydrich can be both charming and ruthless, but has he got what it takes to bring these agencies together ??

Absolute barnstorming performances from the four principle actors, backed with marvelous support from the rest of the cast. CONSPIRACY is taken directly from the surviving records of the meeting, and won multi awards after its release.





The quieter, more sinister side of WWII.
Review date: 2007-02-05 Rating: 10 out of 10

The other reviews presented here give a pretty good explanation of the film, so I'll keep mine short.

I saw this first when it aired on British TV and was completely captivated by it.
The acting is stunning, especially when you consider the difficult subject matter, both in tone and subtlety. As you might expect, Kenneth Branagh excells in this department as the disturbingly charismatic Reinhart Heidrich.

Without a doubt, this is the most terrifying film I have ever seen. 'Shindler's List' brings home the horror of the holocaust, but there is something infinitely more disturbing about seeing a group of men sitting around a table and calmly discussing the mechanics of genocide.

I highly recommend 'Conspiracy', but beware, this could never be considered light viewing.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Stanley Tucci
Clare Bullus
Kenneth Branagh
Simon Markey
David Glover

Creators:
Clare Bullus (Primary Contributor)
Kenneth Branagh (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: HBO Home Video
Manufacturer: HBO Home Video
EAN: 9780783118451
Binding: DVD
ISBN: 0783118457
Number of items: 1
Format: Closed-captioned, Colour, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, Subtitled, NTSC,
Release date: 2002-03-26
Universal product code (UPC): 026359178320
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Region code: 1
Running time: 96 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2001-05-19
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: French (Original Language)
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: Spanish (Subtitled)
Language: French (Subtitled)
Language: Spanish (Dubbed)

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