Rating: 
Summary: Watch the German film "The Wannsee Conference" instead.
Review: "I declare that the proposal to equate half-Jews with Jews is absolutely acceptable." So argues one of the participants of the Wannsee conference near Berlin in January of 1942. "You find it acceptable that we re-examine every mixed race case?" another asks with scepticism; "Now, in the midst of war? That's a lot of work." He is reproached by his interlocutor with the admonition that "we must all make an extra effort." Then they discuss sterilization of all half-Jews before the SS Reich General & chairman of this to-be-kept-secret meeting declaratively announces his decision: "Throw them in with full Jews"---consigning another few hundred thousand human beings to the approximately 11 million figure bandied about at this conference as subject to extermination. The above is taken from "The Wannsee Conference," the 1984 German film concerning this ghastly meeting. Another film by the title of "Conspiracy" (made in 2001) mirrors this film, but pales in comparison; for the latter film is an English film starring Kenneth Branagh (who is not particularly believable as a German officer). Each film covers pretty much the same material, but "the Wannsee Conference" does so in far more detail, offering much greater detail about Nazi Germany's "Final Solution" throughout Europe. It also is arranged better. By that I mean that conference table scenes are broken up by ante-chamber discussions amongst the participants, whereas in the "Conspiracy" version we are basically offered a stage play---attendees arrive one by one & greet one another for what seems like a hundred "Heil Hitler" salutes over 10 minutes, followed by an hour of around the table give-and-take; or rather, one-upsmanship over who is the more inhumanely anti-semitic. The "Conspiracy" version, consequently, doesn't succeed half as well as "The Wannsee Conference" does owing to better direction in the latter, but also because "Conspiracy" is done all in english, with apparently all english actors, whereas "The Wannsee Conference" is done all in German with German actors. I watched them one after the other to compare and would not at all recommend "Conspiracy" for the reasons enumerated above. If you want to "feel" something of the period represented by this event; get a inkling what World War Two was really like, then "The Wannsee Conference" film is something you ought to see ( in addition to "Life is Beautiful," "The Gathering Storm," "Das Boot," et al.; besides reading "Night" by Elie Weisel & "Babi Yar" by A. Kuznetsov, amongst other works). Cheers!
Rating: 
Summary: A Must See
Review: An incredible movie. One that must see in order to grasp the uniqueness of the "final solution". In addition the actors are excellent and the dialogues chiseled with care.
Rating:
Summary: A brilliant drama. Please just be careful with the history..
Review: This is a first class attempt at historical drama complimented by outstanding performances by all members of the cast. There is not a dud amongst any of them.
Kenneth Branagh gives easily one of his finest performances (in a career full of fine performances) as Heydrich.
Whilst acknowledging a previous reviewer's viewpoint regarding `interpretation', I would suggest that any historian would also warn against taking any film made purely for entertainment as the only true picture of events. Conspiracy, for all of it's disturbing moments is made primary for entertainment of an audience, and should first and foremost be taken on that basis.
As with all historical dramas I urge caution against using this film as an `educational' tool. The surviving historical records regarding this conference cannot and do not lead us to the actual personalities responsible for initiating these unparalleled acts of savagery, and I advise any viewer moved by this film against the temptation of superimposing the actors' 'interpreted' personalities against those of the real participants at the Wansee conference.
The minutes actually taken at the conference are sketchy affairs indeed.
The best we can do is educated guesswork, evaluation and enquiry into these areas. That goes for Mark Roseman's book about the Wannsee conference too (which has also raised issues regarding interpretation and translation), and that usually means hard slog in archives with probably no definitive answer to be found anyway.
If this film inspires anyone to look into this subject more closely, it would have more than achieved its purpose in my view.
With the above caveat in mind, I fully recommend this absorbing, disturbing, and thought-provoking film. Fully deserving of its five stars, this is a masterful performance from all concerned.
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Summary: Relevant today...
Review: ...because today men foregather at expensive bunfights like these and discover there that their responsibilities overlap, as in the hilarious round robin where we see clearly that Hitler managed by slop: the creation of departments whose names could be consistently used to expand or contract their actual power.
The Four Year plan guy learns, for example, that his plan is trumped by the thousand year edition...and that his boss, Goring, is out of favor. The Reichs Chancellor minister was told by Hitler that no physical liquidation is planned, only to learn that this is what "eradication" means.
The assault on language itself is familiar in an era in which "terrorism" is an undefinable je ne sais quoi.
Rating:
Summary: Banality of Evil on DVD
Review: In one of the bonus features on the DVD, Kenneth Branagh remarks that in 20-some odd years of stage and screen work, he found playing the role of Heydrich in "Conspiracy" his most disturbing experience. One can tell why from Branagh's performance. His Heydrich is chillingly ruthless, on one hand, yet charmingly idealistic on the other. He captures the Butcher of Prague's chameleon-like personality perfectly -- threatening when muscle is needed, yet able to inspire a distressed lawyer-turned-SS extermination squad leader with poetic homages to "a better time, with German culture triumphant".
Overall, this made-for-cable film, more than any other Holocaust-related feature manages to capture the meaning of Hanna Arendt's term "banality of evil". With few exceptions, none of the mid-level Nazi administrators and SS officers gathered at Wannsee seem sinister by themselves, yet as a group, under the maestro-like direction of Heydrich, they set aside their petty bureaucratic turf wars, and ultimately provide "unanimity" to a wholesale extermination of an entire race of people.
Rating:
Summary: Apparantly "A viewer" is one of those people
Review: You know the ones: The Moon landing was filmed in a sound stage, Jim Morrison is alive and well and living in Paris and the Holocaust never happened. Your explanation of the technical details of the Final Solution are as empty and vacuous as the inside of your apparatly Neo-Nazi shaved head. Trying to dismiss away the holocaust as a rumor or fable as you soo succintly did in your review shows that there is still such an overriding hatred towards the Hebrew people that people can write such nonsense as you have wriiten. This movie may not have all of the facts, but it makes up for it in spades elsewhere. The acting of Brannaugh and Tucci, the historically accurate uniform, setting, mannerisms, and the 100% accurate portrayal of the Nazi war machine as a blood-thirsty, misguided, and childish group of boys, frames this movie along with the likes of Shindler's List, The Pianist, Grey Zone, Uprising and escape from Sobibor. I am not a Jew, but I empathize with all of those that lost thier lives, loved ones, or everything they owned to the Nazi infantile war machine. If you need a little prodding to help you rejoin the human race, visit the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. Get a grip "A viewer" Goose-step back in to the human race.
Rating:
Summary: My jaw dropped
Review: You will come away from this movie believing that this may truly have been what it was like to be in the room when the final solution was discussed and decided. It was discussed so smoothly, so without emotion or regret. I began to put myself in the shoes of those attending the meeting and wondered what my reactions would be. Would I have been different? The harsh reality is that I don't know... May we have the courage to stand up to the current injustices as proof that we will never forget the atrocities carried out by the final solution.
Rating:
Summary: Autopsy of human insanity
Review: The French naturalist Grasset once wrote that in the animal realm the jungle is fundamentally good. On the other end mankind is capable of thinking and doing anything possible and it does it without remorse, selfishly, madly, uselessly. Grasset concludes that mankind IS the vicious animal. The movies portrays meticulously this state of things and put us in front of a terrible reality: in the same apparently well mannered and cultivated man can coexist a sadistic murderer that is coldly able to decide the fate of millions of lives while listening to Shubert and drinking a good bottle of wine.
Oustanding cast and cinematography.
Rating:
Summary: Rationalizing Genocide
Review: "Conspiracy" is a brilliant reenactment of the fateful meeting that implemented the logistics of NAZI genocide. The film shows how easily an idea as horrific as one of mass murder can be politely discussed by a committee having a nice lunch on a quiet day.
The peaceful surroundings of the chateau where members of the NAZI apparatus met parallels the ease with which most of the individuals contemplate the mass homicide. Most members seemed disturbed not at all with the concept, but simply the logistics of its implementation: firing squads vs. gas? If gas, what kind? Carbon monoxide or cyanide; Xyclon-B perhaps? How large should the facilities be? How many undesirables can they "evacuate" per day? How to dispose of the bodies? Should they be used for work?
Kenneth Branagh plays SS Chief of Security Reinhard Heydrich convincingly; showing his cool resolve and functional outlook in carrying out the will of a madman. Colin Firth shows more the hippocricy of party members who esoterically intellectualized the advacement of racial hatred with moral gusto but soon found their morality at odds with the all too obvious political ramifications of what they preached. Stanley Tucci also renders an exquisite performance of Adolf Eichmann, Heydrich's devoted disciple and ultimate successor in implementing The Final Solution.
The movie is as concise and to the point as Reinhard Heydrich's sinister oversight of the committee's progress. Staying on track and keeping the listner focused on the morbid task at hand, the audience is mesmerized by the bureaucratic dryness of the proceedings until its chilling end. There's obviously some poetic license as to the dialogue of the characters outside of the meeting minutes, but it's believable in every way.
A great film that everyone must see so as to be warned about human nature. This film doesn't only show the horrors of NAZI Germany, it also shows how easily the human mind can rationalize and trivialize the large scale implementation of amoral if not criminal policies; it's interesting to note that most of those attending that fateful meeting were attorneys or had a legal professional background. Finally, as the film reveals the logistics of bureacratic function in general, it is perhaps an ominous portent as to how our corporate establishments (or any other human institution)can both rationalize and trivialize human life when evaluating loss and profitability: a common symptom when such entities are deciding to market or dispose of goods they know are dangerous or even deadly: it's just on a smaller scale and less discriminate.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth Watching
Review: I had the opportunity of viewing Conspiracy during a Holocaust Education workshop for teachers. It is very accurate (from what I have read) and does show the inner-works of the Wansee Conference. I believe that the film was either filmed on location or at a place that was very much similar to the Wannsee House. I had the opportunity to travel there this past summer with a group of teachers. I was struck by how much the movie prepared me to think about the house and it's importance in the creation and implementation of the "Final Solution". If you are thinking of showing it to students, you may need to explain to them how the conference was conducted and give them some background -- it has lots of dialogue and plenty of "under currents" that can be hard to follow if you are not familiar with the "power plays" that were going on at that table....lots of ego at that table. It is important to remember that many of these individuals were sent by the "major players" in the Nazi regime to attend the conference. By not attending the conference himself, Hitler and his administrative members could claim "plausable deniability" (so they thought) if anything were to go wrong with the plan. It is hard to believe that this beautiful house that is located on beautifully-decorated ground and of of a spectacular lake could have played such a major role in WWII. Chilling!
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