History Film / Amen

2002 German/French/Romanian film directed by Costa-Gavras which explores the links between UsefulNotes/NaziGermany and [[UsefulNotes/VaticanCity the Vatican]] through the eyes of two characters - the RealLife [[ThoseWackyNazis Waffen-SS]] Officer Kurt Gerstein, and a fictional young Jesuit priest named Riccardo Fontana.

In 1942, Kurt Gerstein of the [=SS=] Hygiene Institute travels to Poland to instruct the troops in the safe storage and purification of water, and to observe the use of the new form of the chemical Zyklon B he has developed to eradicate typhus. However, accompanied by a sinister [=SS=] Doctor, he is taken to the newly established Belzec extermination camp to witness his creation being put to its true, grisly use. A [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone horrified]] Gerstein returns to Germany and, despite having been sworn to secrecy, he begins desperately attempting to inform the international community of the massacres. Mindful of the successful campaign against the Aktion [=T4=] programme spearheaded by the Catholic Church, he tries to convey the message to the Vatican, but finds his local bishops unmoved.

* NaziProtagonist: Kurt Gerstein did join the Nazi party in 1933, but disagreed with a lot of their more extreme positions, and was actually expelled in 1936 for distributing anti-Nazi material - he was however a member of the [=SS=], the principal perpetrators of the Holocaust.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: The Doctor finds a safe haven in the Vatican before finding a ship bound for Argentina.]]

* InterserviceRivalry: Karl turns against his ex-friend Gerstein because of this between Karl's Wehrmacht membership and Gerstein's SS membership, however Karl is also an irrational and petty {{Hypocrite}} when he threatens Gerstein to sic the [[StateSec Gestapo]] (another SS organization) on him if he doesn't get off his back.

* BerserkButton: Like a flick of a switch after just being warm and fuzzily friendly towards him, hearing his friend Kurt Gerstein to be a SS member really ''blindly enrages'' Wehrmacht clerk Karl who NeverLiveItDown and bordered on BlackAndWhiteInsanity on vehemently refusing to acknowledge the actual good in Gerstein despite his membership.

* TheSocialDarwinist: The Doctor, who in one scene shows up at Kurt's house with chocolates to celebrate Darwin's birthday. By gifting his children with an ape's skull made out of swiss chocolate, with a note inside containing a message about EvolutionaryLevels.

* ArgentinaIsNaziland: The film's final scene.

* TheSocialDarwinist: The Doctor, who in one scene shows up at Kurt's house with chocolates to celebrate Darwin's birthday.

* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: Kurt is frequently praised for his effective "disinfection" techniques by high-ranking members of the [=SS=]. He himself finds the crimes he unwittingly helped to commit horrific.

* RaisedCatholic: The Doctor claims to be "a bit Catholic".

* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: "The Doctor".

* RageWithinTheMachine

* [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight Screw the Rules, He's Doing What's Right!]]: When one of the cardinals expresses outrage that Riccardo has requested a papal audience for a man who is not only an [=SS=] officer, but a traitor to his country, Riccardo replies;

** According to Wiki/{{Wikipedia}}, it had always been Gerstein's intention to sabotage the Nazi regime from within and expose everything he found; only what he found was ''way'' beyond his darkest expectations. Also, anyone expelled from the NSDAP was automatically blacklisted in Germany: re-joining the party was his only chance at getting anything like a [[{{Irony}} decent]] job.

* UsefulNotes/ThePope: Specifically, Pope Pius [=XII=].

* NightmareFuel: What, exactly, did Gerstein see through the peep-hole?... Just seconds before all inside were dead?

* DespairEventHorizon: The film opens with one of these, when the Jewish journalist Stephan Lux walks into the League of Nations and publicly shoots himself in protest against Nazi persecution and the world's silence. Later, when the Nazis occupy Rome, [[spoiler: Riccardo dons a yellow star and boards the transport headed for a death camp. On his arrival, the Doctor discovers that he is a Catholic priest and places him in the ''Sonderkommando'', the unit responsible for burning bodies of the murdered. Gerstein finds him starved, weak, and utterly broken by what he has witnessed.]]

* BlackAndGreyMorality: The horrific evil of Nazi atrocities is condemned in no uncertain terms, but on the other hand, the film explores the uncomfortable reality that, in terms of concrete action, the Allies were fairly ambivalent towards the suffering of the Jews, Gypsies, and others. The Swedish diplomat Göran von Otter tells Kurt that his efforts to get the Americans to accept 2,000 Jewish children have been in vain, and several times the Doctor at Auschwitz remarks, "German cities are bombarded every night, but here the heavens are clear."

* BreakingSpeech: The Doctor gives a couple.

* TheIdealist: Both protagonists sincerely believe in the power of public opinion and of the church to put a stop to the atrocities. [[DespairEventHorizon At first]].

** According to TheOtherWiki, it had always been Gerstein's intention to sabotage the Nazi regime from within and expose everything he found; only what he found was ''way'' beyond his darkest expectations. Also, anyone expelled from the NSDAP was automatically blacklisted in Germany: re-joining the party was his only chance at getting anything like a [[{{Irony}} decent]] job.

* [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight Screw The Rules, He's Doing What's Right]]: When one of the cardinals expresses outrage that Riccardo has requested a papal audience for a man who is not only an [=SS=] officer, but a traitor to his country, Riccardo replies;

* TitleDrop: The Doctor gives Riccardo a BreakingSpeech, claiming that the Nazis are the new "chosen people", to which the priest responds with a bitterly ironic "Amen!"

* FauxAffablyEvil: The Doctor is quite handy with a [[SlasherSmile deceptively friendly smile]] or [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor a bad joke]], which makes his colleagues underestimate how nasty he really is. Heck, his CharacterEstablishingMoment has him smiling at a group of mentally handicapped children being led to their deaths.

However, when Father Fontana hears Gerstein's story, he vows to alert [[UsefulNotes/ThePope Pope Pius XII]] in person, as the two men are certain that a clear condemnation from the Holy Father will rouse German Catholics into action once again. Meanwhile, Gerstein returns to Poland to observe the mass murder and provide further testimony. He tells Father Fontana, "I will be the eyes of God in that hell." But he quickly finds himself unable to passively watch, and begins risking his life to sabotage and slow down the killing in any way he can.

However, when Father Fontana hears Gerstein's story, he vows to alert [[ThePope Pope Pius XII]] in person, as the two men are certain that a clear condemnation from the Holy Father will rouse German Catholics into action once again. Meanwhile, Gerstein returns to Poland to observe the mass murder and provide further testimony. He tells Father Fontana, "I will be the eyes of God in that hell." But he quickly finds himself unable to passively watch, and begins risking his life to sabotage and slow down the killing in any way he can.

* ThePope: Specifically, Pope Pius [=XII=].

** According to TheOtherWiki, he joined the SS with the intention of exposing everything he found; only what he did find was way beyond his expectations. Also, anyone expelled from the Nazi party was automatically blacklisted in Germany: re-joining the party was his only chance at getting anything like a decent job.

2002 German/French/Romanian film directed by Costa-Gavras which explores the links between UsefulNotes/NaziGermany and the {{Vatican}} through the eyes of two characters - the RealLife [[ThoseWackyNazis Waffen-SS]] Officer Kurt Gerstein, and a fictional young Jesuit priest named Riccardo Fontana.

In 1942, Kurt Gerstein of the [=SS=] Hygiene Institute travels to Poland to instruct the troops in the safe storage and purification of water, and to observe the use of the new form of the chemical Zyklon B he has helped develop to eradicate typhus. However, accompanied by a sinister [=SS=] Doctor, he is taken to the newly established Belzec extermination camp to witness his creation being put to its true, grisly use. A [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone horrified]] Gerstein returns to Germany and, despite having been sworn to secrecy, he begins desperately attempting to inform the international community of the massacres. Mindful of the successful campaign against the Aktion [=T4=] programme spearheaded by the Catholic Church, he tries to convey the message to the Vatican, but finds his local bishops unmoved.

In 1942, Kurt Gerstein of the [=SS=] Hygiene Institute travels to Poland to instruct the troops in the safe storage and purification of water, and to observe the use of the chemical Zyklon B to eradicate typhus. However, accompanied by a sinister [=SS=] Doctor, he is taken to the newly established Belzec extermination camp to witness his creation being put to its true, grisly use. A [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone horrified]] Gerstein returns to Germany and, despite having been sworn to secrecy, he begins desperately attempting to inform the international community of the massacres. Mindful of the successful campaign against the Aktion [=T4=] programme spearheaded by the Catholic Church, he tries to convey the message to the Vatican, but finds his local bishops unmoved.

In 1942, Kurt Gerstein of the [=SS=] Hygiene Institute travels to Poland to instruct the troops in the safe storage and purification of water, and to observe the use of the chemical he has developed, Zyklon B, to eradicate typhus. However, accompanied by a sinister [=SS=] Doctor, he is taken to the newly established Belzec extermination camp to witness his creation being put to its true, grisly use. A [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone horrified]] Gerstein returns to Germany and, despite having been sworn to secrecy, he begins desperately attempting to inform the international community of the massacres. Mindful of the successful campaign against the Aktion [=T4=] programme spearheaded by the Catholic Church, he tries to convey the message to the Vatican, but finds his local bishops unmoved.