My first thought was one of hesitance: how interesting could a movie that seeks merely to recreate a meeting - even as serious and horrendous a meeting as the Wannsee Conference - be? I've been to a lot of meetings of many kinds over the years, and even the most "important" of them wouldn't make a particularly good movie. And certainly, looked at just in the context of the usual Hollywood blockbusters, "Conspiracy" isn't very exciting. But therein lies the brilliance and power of it. How can a movie about a meeting to plot the extermination of the millions of Europe's Jews possibly be dull? And yet "Conspiracy" manages to portray, in entirely believable fashion, the routineness of the whole thing. And it's the very routineness of the meeting - the simple administrative nature of the whole thing - that makes a person take notice. This was the reality of Nazi Germany - where plotting the mass murder of Jews was just another part of the day's work.

The movie is simply put together. Most of the "action" is restricted to an oval Conference table in a large meeting room. The participants in the meeting indulge in wine and food and cigars - and their little plot. One is drawn into a deeper understanding of the brutal nature of this regime. The disputes around the table have nothing to do with the morality of mass murder. Instead, we have the representative of the Reich Chancellory (Dr. Kritzinger, played by David Threlfall) whining and pouting because he feels this business should be left to the Chancellory and not to SS Chief Heydrich (played by Kenneth Branagh); we have Dr. Stuckart from the Interior Ministry (the author of the Nuremberg anti-Jewish laws, played by Colin Firth) complaining not about the plan to kill the Jews, but merely that they aren't following the letter of the laws he so carefully drafted; then we have the grotesque Dr. Klopfer, representing the Nazi Party, (and played by Ian McNeice) believing that anyone who dared question Heydrich (including Kritzinger and Stuckart) must be a "Jew-lover." Absolutely horrifying, and a terrifying glimpse of what the world might be like if Germany had won World War II.

Special mention must be made of Kenneth Branagh, who was magnificent as Heydrich. Branagh offered a portrayal of Heydrich coolly and calmly presiding over this Conference without moral qualms about the subject matter.

And there was a final lesson to anyone who falls into the trap of hate. (Some might consider this a spoiler, so please beware.)

In the middle of the movie, Kritzinger takes Heydrich aside and tells him a story, but the camera doesn't stay on the two as the story is told. After the Conference is over, Heydrich finally tells Adolf Eichmann, his chief aide (played by Stanley Tucci) what the story was. Let's cut to the chase here. I know a fair bit about German history. Anti-Jewish sentiment was a regular feature of German politics. Candidates for office tried to outdo each other in anti-Semitic slogans. But it was all politics; that was understood. Part of the game, if you want to call it that. But Hitler and the Nazis took it very - and tragically - seriously. And the moral of Kirtzinger's story raised a question: if you put all your energies into hating the Jews, then once you exterminate them, you have no purpose left. Hate serves no purpose. Marvelously illustrated by this movie.

9/10

This excellent co-production by HBO and BBC is based on real-life deeds and previously shot in i984 a German film by Heinz Schirk .It concerns about the meeting of high-ranking Nazi SS and civilian leaders at the Wannsee Conference held on January 20,1942, to plan the Final Solution of the Jewish question. This interesting, important movie depicting, in real time, the conference during which 14 members of the Nazi hierarchy decided in eighty five minutes the logistics and means of effecting the Final Solution. The film is magnificently played by complete casting. Special mention to Kenneth Branagh as cold General Reinhard Heydrich, Colin Firth as dubious Dr Stuckard, Ian McNiece as the fat Dr Klopfer, David Threlfall as the regretted Dr Kritzinger and Kevin McNally as undersecretary Martin Luther . The picture is accurately adapted by Loris Mandel based on the Wannsee Protocol. Furthermore evocative cinematography by Stephen Goldblatt. This TV movie is well directed by Frank Pierson, a prestigious screenwriter and director.

Adding more details along with the well developed on the movie, the deeds were happened of the following manner:

The meeting took place in the Berlin suburb of Grossen-Wannsee, where the decision was made to adopt the Final Solution, the contemplated extermination of Jews . On Julio 31, 1941, Herman Goering issued orders to Reinhard Heydrich,chief of the SD, the security service , to submit a comprehensive plan of the Jewish question. The meeting was originally scheduled for December 8,1941, but it was to be postpones until noon on January 20, 1942. It was to be followed by a luncheon. Fifteen Nazi bureaucrats were present. Minutes of meeting taken in Protocol that read in part: ¨As a further possibility of solving the question, the evacuation of the Jews of the east can now be substituted for emigration ,after obtaining permission from the Fuehrer to that effect.However ,these actions are merely to be considered as alternative possibilities, even though they will permit us to make all those practical experiences of great importance for the future final solution of the Jewish question. The Jews should in the course of the Final Solution betaken in a suitable manner to the east for use as labor. In big labor gangs ,separated by sex. The Jews capable of work will be brought these areas for road building, in which task undoubtedly a large number will fall through natural diminution. The remnant that is finally able to survive all this must be treated accordingly, since these people, representing a natural selection, are to be regarded as the germ cell a new Jewish development, in case they should succeed and go free. This remnant survivor is undoubtedly the part with the strongest resistance. And they go free as history has proved. In the course of the execution of the Final solution , Europe will be combed from West to east¨.

The conference was opened by Heydrich, who declared that he was the plenipotentiary for the final of the Jewish question. He then reviewed the emigration problem. Until this time a plan had been held in readiness to deport all Jews to the island of Magadascar, off the coast of Africa, but the Madagascar Plan had fallen through after the invasion of the USSR on June,22,1941. There was no longer any possibility of transporting Jews in this fashion. Instead of emigration the Fueherer had given his sanction for the evacuation of all Jews to the East as a solution possibility. The evacuees would be organized into huge labor columns. Undoubtedly, a majority would fall through natural diminution. The survivors of this natural selection process, actually the hard core of Jewry and the most dangerous because they could rebuild the Jewish life,would be treated accordingly. Although Heydrich did not elaborate the phrase ¨treated accordingly¨the plain meaning was that, in the course of time,with insufficient food and exhausting work, the survivors would be weakened and ready for the specially equipped extermination camps. The conferees then became involved in a lengthy discussion of the problem of the individuals of mixed race, and that of Jews in mixed marriages. About the half the time was taken up with this special discussion, but not drastic reclassification was made. Then the conferees adjourned for lunch. Thirty copies of the record were made and circulated in the ministries and SS offices. News of the Final Solution traveled quickly through the Nazi bureaucracy. Within a few months the first gas chamber camps were set up in Poland. The events are known as Wannsee Protocol by Martin Luther's copy of the Conference minutes was discovered in the files of the German Foreign by American investigators in 1947.It is the only record of the meeting that survives. Destination of the Conference participants is the following : Reinhard Heydrich killed in Praga. Gestapo Chied Heinrich Muller, disappeared after the war. Dr Gerhard Klopfer, arrested 1945 for war crimes, discharged for lack of evidence,died 1987. Dr Krtzinger, arrested 1945,declarated ashamed of Nazi atrocities released 1947. Otto Hoffman arrested 1945,sentenced to 25 years. Dr Alfred Meyer committed suicide in the Spring of 1945.Dr Stuckard sentenced 1949 to time served. Martin Luther sent to concentration camp,died of heart attack 1945. Dr Buhler arrested 1945,executed 1948,Poland. SS colonel Schongarth executed 1946. And Colonel Adolf Eichmann captured in Argentina by Israeli agents 1960,tried, convicted and hanged for crimes against humanity,Jerusalem,May 31,1962