Kenneth Branagh Is A Real Life Monster In This Shocking Streaming Historical Drama
The 1942 Wannsee Conference may have been the single most evil meeting of the minds ever to occur in recorded history. Conspiracy, starring Kenneth Branagh, is a chilling dramatization of the conference where most of Hitler’s top officials sat down to discuss the “Final Solution” that led directly to the darkest days of the Holocaust. The movie, which provides a glimpse into the blackest hearts of history’s greatest monsters, is streaming now on Max.
The 2001 film was developed as a made-for-HBO original. Conspiracy was directed by Frank Pierson, writer of such Hollywood classics as 1975’s Dog Day Afternoon and 1967’s Cool Hand Luke, off of a screenplay by Loring Mandel. The movie stars Kenneth Branagh as Reinhard Heydrich, whom Hitler once described as “The man with the iron heart,” as well as Stanley Tucci as Adolf Eichmann and Colin Firth as Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart.
Interestingly enough, a young Tom Hiddleston has a small role as a telephone operator in Conspiracy. Kenneth Branagh would go on to direct Hiddleston years later in 2011’s Thor.
Conspiracy takes place on January 20, 1942, when several Nazi officials got together at a conference in Wannsee just outside of Berlin to discuss how to make Germany and German-controlled territories free of Jews permanently.
Kenneth Branagh’s Reinhard Heydrich, chief of the Reich Security Main Office, led the meeting based on a directive from Hermann Goring to find a “complete solution of the Jewish question.” Heydrich uses the meeting to introduce a change in policy form, forcing Jews to emigrate to more sinister “solutions.”
Several disgusting topics are discussed at the conference, such as the forced sterilization of Jewish men and women and a possible exemption for Jews with one or more non-Jewish grandparents.
It quickly becomes evident, however, that the purpose of the meeting is less to discuss and decide what to do about the Jews and more a way for Kenneth Branagh’s character to unveil the new plan—the wholesale extermination of Europe’s entire Jewish population—to his fellow Nazis. Branagh’s Heydrich discusses at length the construction of several concentration camps equipped with gas chambers.
“There’s a spiritual revulsion against playing him. You don’t want to be saying the things he was saying or be part of his psyche.”
-Kenneth Branagh on playing General Heydrich in Conspiracy
The chilling drama was partially based on a copy of the minutes taken at the meeting recovered by the US Army in 1947. Conspiracy does a good job of showcasing just what happens when a few evil people are unopposed by the only officials who could stop them.
While not everyone at the Wannsee Conference agrees wholeheartedly with the slaughter of innocent people based on their heritage/religion, everyone in the room eventually signs off on the idea.
Conspiracy was filmed in a theatrical performance style more akin to a stage production than a movie. The actors were required to stay in costume and character from the start of filming each day until the end. The cast was forced to memorize twenty or so pages of script at a time, something Kenneth Branagh and the other actors with stage experience were used to.
The roles of prominent Nazi officials proved to be some of the most difficult roles many in the cast had ever played. Kenneth Branagh has been quoted as saying that he found the act of playing Reinhard Heydrich “disturbing.”
“There’s a spiritual revulsion against playing him. You don’t want to be saying the things he was saying or be part of his psyche,” Brannagh said when discussing Heydrich. The actor claimed that the role got under his skin “in an invasive way.”
Interestingly enough, a young Tom Hiddleston has a small role as a telephone operator in Conspiracy. Kenneth Branagh would go on to direct Hiddleston years later in 2011’s Thor.
The movie is a hard watch but was critically acclaimed nonetheless. Conspiracy currently holds a 100 percent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and is tied with Shackleton as Kenneth Branagh’s highest-rated project on the site.
Many critics made a point to emphasize the flat, matter-of-factness of Mandel’s script as a way to drive home that these weren’t mustache-twirling cartoon villains debating the genocide of an entire race, but rather bureaucrats calmly discussing the fate of Europe’s Jewish population the same way they would discuss where to order lunch.
Kenneth Branagh stars in the disturbing historical drama Conspiracy, streaming on Max.
When it comes to Kenneth Branagh’s performances, there’s no shortage of magnificent feats of thespian excellence to choose from. However, Conspiracy just might be one of his best. For that reason alone, the movie is worth checking out, but there’s a far better reason to watch conspiracy: to keep history alive.
As hard as it is to watch a film where a room full of men discuss the fate of millions in a cold, business-like manner, it’s important to do so, if only to remind ourselves of the kind of evil that a few determined zealots can get away with if the masses stand by and do nothing. Conspiracy can be streamed right now on Max.
