Conspiracy

original title:
Conspiracy
other titles:
(Die Wannseekonferenz)
country / year of production:
Great Britain , USA / 2001
original length:
96 min. , color
premiere:
USA 19 May 2001
genre:
drama
based on:
director:
Frank Pierson
film script:
Loring Mandel
producer:
Nick Gillott
cinematographer:
Stephen Goldblatt
editor:
Peter Zinner
composer:
cast (role):
Kenneth Charles Branagh (Reinhard Heydrich) , Claire Bullus (Hausmädchen/Maid) , Stanley Tucci (Adolf Eichmann) , Simon Markey (Stenograph/Stenographer) , Colin Andrew Firth (Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart) , Kenneth Charles Branagh , Claire Bullus , Stanley Tucci , Simon Markey , Colin Andrew Firth
more:
plot synopsis:
A nice clear winterday, Tuesday, january 20th, 1942. In the idyllicly situated villa at the address Am Großen Wannsee 56-58, SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann awaits the arrival of fifteen high-ranking party- and government officials. Eichmann is in a tense mood. The meeting is top secret and conducted by his boss, SS-Obergruppenführer Heydrich. Over the next hours, zipping wine and smoking cigarres, the representatives of the SS, the NSDAP, the Reichssicherheitshauptamt and other ministries will discuss jurisdictional prerequisites and the most effective ways of execution. Their topic: the killing of eleven million European Jews.
keywords:
based on a true story , concentration camps , prisoner camps , forced labour , Holocaust
war:
Second World War (1939-1945)
literature:
Mark Roseman. Die Wannsee-Konferenz. Wie die NS-Bürokratie den Holocaust organisierte. München: Ullstein-Taschenbuchverlag, 2002.
remarks:
Writer Loring Mandel does not interpret the conference that still puzzles historians as the day the holocaust was decided. In fact, the holocaust had already begun in 1942, the discussions on the most effective ways of execution indicate that. Instead Mandel and Pierson follow latest historical research that in the lack of written sources concludes that Heydrich used the meeting to enforce his leadership within the widely ramified nazi buraucracy.
The production design was orientated on sources about other similar meetings, invented scenes complete the authentic course of events.

Received numerous awards:
2001: Emmy for Brannagh (best actor) und Mandel (best script)

2002:
- Golden Golbe for Tucci (best supporting actor)
- Writers Guild of America Award for Mandel
- Peabody Award
- Golden Sattelite Awards for Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci as best supporting actor
- Directors Guild Award for Frank Pierson
- AFI TV Award for Brannagh (actor of the year)

2003
- BAFTA TV Award as best production

Produced by HBO and BBC Films.
http://www.hbo.com/films/conspiracy/

Commentary by director Frank Pierson and presse reviews:
http://www.spring.net/karenr/mdbro/conspiracy.html

Official homepage of the House of the Wannsee conference:
http://www.ghwk.de/

English version of the "Wannsee Protocol":
http://www.mtsu.edu/~baustin/wannsee.html
availability:
VHS, DVD