RATINGS: IMDB ― 7.8/10, Rotten Tomatoes ―86% (Users), ME ― DNS%
Adolf Eichmann: Now, last summer Reichsführer Himmler asked me to visit a camp up in Upper Silesia, called Auschwitz, which is very well isolated, and close to significant rail access. And we are turning that camp into a major center, solid structures (and here's where your Jewish labor comes into play, Herr Neumann, the Jews haul the bricks and they build the buildings themselves). And when the structures are complete, we expect to be able to process 2500... an hour. Not a day, an hour.
Heydrich: And those numbers look a lot better.
Luther: 2500 an hour?
Hofmann: 2500?
Adolf Eichmann: At 24 hours a day, that is 60,000.
Kritzinger: 60,000 each day...
Adolf Eichmann: That's 21,900,000 Jews a year, if ever there were that many.
Heydrich: And we are also constructing the means of disposal, which will obviously depend
Adolf Eichmann: Yes, it'll be industrial in nature: large commercial gas-fed ovens, no residue to speak of.
Müller: 60,000 Jews every day go up in smoke.
Trivia (From IMDB):
This production used an almost theatrical performance style during shooting. The performers stayed in costume and character from the start to the end of each day of filming. A set was used with solid (non-moving) walls and ceilings, to reinforce the reality of the setting, and eliminate any delays for changing camera or lighting setups. The action was filmed in extremely long sequences, sometimes 20 pages or more of script at a stretch, which is unusual in this type of production. However many of the actors have a Shakespearean background, and having to memorize this amount of dialogue was not a new experience for them. The production style required the use of the Super 16 film format. This was needed because of the longer film magazines available for those cameras, and also the smaller size, allowing the cameras to get in very close to the performers sitting around a conference table, the setting used for the bulk of the story.
Since detailed records of the Wannsee Conference did not survive World War II, minor details of the film (such as the seating arrangement at the conference table, what was actually served for lunch, and who was wearing a uniform compared to who wasn't) were totally up to the guess of the film's producers and not based on any historical evidence.
The producers and writer did have access to more primary material than it might seem at first. During his trial in Israel, Adolf Eichmann provided many details about the subject of the film, even down to specific conversations, the general tone of the meeting, and other details. In particular, it's worth noting that a good bit of the dialog in the movie is lifted verbatim from relevant memos and speeches by Nazi officials that were preserved, are part of the historical record, and cited by numerous sources. Many specific locutions used by the men in the film can be found as cited, for instance, in Gitta Sereny's book "Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth" as well as other sources. The single-page, neutered summary of the meeting that survived in the files of the German Foreign Office is far from the only primary source used by the film-makers.
The house shown when General Heydrich is shown flying into the conference is the house of the original conference. The inside of the house shown in the movie, however, are all sets made for the movie itself.
The epilogue states that Undersecretary Martin Luther's copy of the Wansee Conference minutes was discovered in the files of the German Foreign office by American Investigators in 1947. It is the only record of the Wansee Conference meeting in existence that survives today.
Apart from the record Eichmann plays at the end there is no music in the entire film.
The opening and closing of the film have Heydrich flying to and from the Wannsee Conference, which took place on January 20, 1942. However, Heydrich was officially grounded by Heinrich Himmler after he was shot down by Russian anti-aircraft in late 1941.
Kenneth Branagh, Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth were the only ones nominated in this film for an Emmy in Acting (Branagh being the only one of the three to win). The three men are also the only Oscar-nominees in the film (Firth and Tucci nominated the same year). As of 2011, Colin Firth is the only one of the three who has won an Oscar.
Stanley Tucci is the only American actor in the production, yet he was not asked to affect a British accent to match the other members of the production.
The film takes place on January 20, 1942.
The only music played in the film is The String Quintet in C Major by Austrian composer Franz Schubert. Schubert's final instrumental work. He wrote it two months before his tragic early death at the age of 31. The Adagio that "will break your heart" is the best known portion of the piece, and its inclusion perhaps reflects the twisted nature of a man like Heydrich who finds such emotion in the music while coldly arranging the genocide of millions.
Kenneth Branagh and Tom Hiddleston were reunited in some episodes of "Wallander" (2008) (TV) and Thor (2011), of which Branagh is a director.
Heydrich: We can achieve that. Imagine.
Stanley Tucci as Adolf Eichmann, Kenneth Branagh as Heydrich, and Kevin McNally as Luther, David Threlfall as Kritzinger and Brendan Coyle as Müller
Trivia (From IMDB):
This production used an almost theatrical performance style during shooting. The performers stayed in costume and character from the start to the end of each day of filming. A set was used with solid (non-moving) walls and ceilings, to reinforce the reality of the setting, and eliminate any delays for changing camera or lighting setups. The action was filmed in extremely long sequences, sometimes 20 pages or more of script at a stretch, which is unusual in this type of production. However many of the actors have a Shakespearean background, and having to memorize this amount of dialogue was not a new experience for them. The production style required the use of the Super 16 film format. This was needed because of the longer film magazines available for those cameras, and also the smaller size, allowing the cameras to get in very close to the performers sitting around a conference table, the setting used for the bulk of the story.
Since detailed records of the Wannsee Conference did not survive World War II, minor details of the film (such as the seating arrangement at the conference table, what was actually served for lunch, and who was wearing a uniform compared to who wasn't) were totally up to the guess of the film's producers and not based on any historical evidence.
The producers and writer did have access to more primary material than it might seem at first. During his trial in Israel, Adolf Eichmann provided many details about the subject of the film, even down to specific conversations, the general tone of the meeting, and other details. In particular, it's worth noting that a good bit of the dialog in the movie is lifted verbatim from relevant memos and speeches by Nazi officials that were preserved, are part of the historical record, and cited by numerous sources. Many specific locutions used by the men in the film can be found as cited, for instance, in Gitta Sereny's book "Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth" as well as other sources. The single-page, neutered summary of the meeting that survived in the files of the German Foreign Office is far from the only primary source used by the film-makers.
The house shown when General Heydrich is shown flying into the conference is the house of the original conference. The inside of the house shown in the movie, however, are all sets made for the movie itself.
The epilogue states that Undersecretary Martin Luther's copy of the Wansee Conference minutes was discovered in the files of the German Foreign office by American Investigators in 1947. It is the only record of the Wansee Conference meeting in existence that survives today.
Apart from the record Eichmann plays at the end there is no music in the entire film.
The opening and closing of the film have Heydrich flying to and from the Wannsee Conference, which took place on January 20, 1942. However, Heydrich was officially grounded by Heinrich Himmler after he was shot down by Russian anti-aircraft in late 1941.
Kenneth Branagh, Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth were the only ones nominated in this film for an Emmy in Acting (Branagh being the only one of the three to win). The three men are also the only Oscar-nominees in the film (Firth and Tucci nominated the same year). As of 2011, Colin Firth is the only one of the three who has won an Oscar.
Stanley Tucci is the only American actor in the production, yet he was not asked to affect a British accent to match the other members of the production.
The film takes place on January 20, 1942.
The only music played in the film is The String Quintet in C Major by Austrian composer Franz Schubert. Schubert's final instrumental work. He wrote it two months before his tragic early death at the age of 31. The Adagio that "will break your heart" is the best known portion of the piece, and its inclusion perhaps reflects the twisted nature of a man like Heydrich who finds such emotion in the music while coldly arranging the genocide of millions.
Kenneth Branagh and Tom Hiddleston were reunited in some episodes of "Wallander" (2008) (TV) and Thor (2011), of which Branagh is a director.
Stanley Tucci and Nicholas Woodeson previously appeared in The Pelican Brief (1993).
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