History Film / Conspiracy

* [[DeadlyEuphemism Deadly Euphemism]]/[[EuphemismBuster Euphemism Buster]]: As befitting a film about the Holocaust, these are used frequently - "evacuation" is the term finally agreed upon when discussing the future policy of the regime. Eventually, after yet another mention of "evacuation," an SS officer stands up and asks whether he "evacuated 30,000 Jews already by shooting them."

* MoralEventHorizon: In-universe. By the end of the film Kritzinger realizes quite clearly how he and his colleagues have crossed the horizon by starting the Holocaust.
-->Kritzinger: It is night time in Moscow already. Do you think we will ever see the dawn in our lifetime?

** Heydrich thinks he's "pragmatic" too, in an especially disgusting way.
-->Heydrich: We will not sterilize every Jew and wait for them to die, we will not sterilize every Jew and then exterminate the race. Dead men don't hump, dead women don't get pregnant. Death is the most reliable form of sterilization, think of it that way.

''Conspiracy'' is a 2001 {{HBO}} / {{BBC}} TV film (a remake of the German film ''Wannseekonferenz'') that dramatizes the story of the 1942 Wannsee Conference, the [[WorldWarII 1942 meeting of German officials that formalized and developed the]] "[[FinalSolution Final Solution of the Jewish Question]]." It is an English-language adaptaion of ''Die Wannseekonferenze'', a German film that tackled the same subject matter; both films are shot in RealTime and used the only surviving copy of the minutes of the meeting, which was found in the papers of Undersecretary Martin Luther, as the basis for their scripts.

''Conspiracy'' is a 2001 {{HBO}} / {{BBC}} TV film that dramatizes the story of the 1942 Wannsee Conference. the [[WorldWarII 1942 meeting of German officials that formalized and developed the]] "[[FinalSolution Final Solution of the Jewish Question]]." It is an English-language adaptaion of ''Die Wannseekonferenze'', a German film that tackled the same subject matter; both films are shot in RealTime and used the only surviving copy of the minutes of the meeting, which was found in the papers of Undersecretary Martin Luther, as the basis for their scripts.

* '''Kenneth Branagh''' as '''Reinhard Heydrich''': The SS Chief of Reich Security (Main Office) and Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia. He has ultimate oversight over all matters relating to the Jewish question, and is the immediate subordinate to Heinrich Himmler. A ruthless and intelligent man, he spends much of the film threatening, flattering and cajoling to bring the ministries into line. He was killed by British-trained Czech commandos with an anti-tank grenade laced with botulinum poison in 1942.

* IncrediblyLamePun: In-universe, Luther's joke about the Jews in the gas chambers. To anyone who isn't a fanatical Nazi, it isn't the least bit funny:
--->'''Eichmann:''' The gas...the gas...well, it turns them pink.
--->'''Luther:''' The Jews go in [[DirtyCommunists Red]] and come out pink. I call that progress.

* OhCrap: It becomes clear that the various non-NSDAP civilians who work at the House are terrified of the SS. When one of the waiters breaks a plate, the kitchen staff all stop in terrified silence, only for Eichmann to do nothing more than insist he pays. Later on, when Eichmann returns to the kitchen, there is a close-up of the poor man's horrified face as he scampers away.
** One SS driver has such a reaction when he turns round after a snowball fight and sees Eichmann standing there. This only gets worse as Eichmann threatens him with the Russian Front.
** Eichmann and Heydrich themselves have one when Luther continues talking openly about the extermination program as the food is brought in, trying desperately to to shut Luther up whilst frantically signalling for the secretary to stop typing.

* PrecisionFStrike: Klopfer drops two, usually to shut people up. It works with Neumann but not with Stuckart:
--->'''Neumann:''' The Four-Year Plan-
--->'''Klopfer:''' Oh, not the fucking Four-Year Plan! (*Neumann looks like Klopfer has just puncher him.)
** Stuckart, on the other hand, isn't in the least bit intimidated
--->'''Stuckart:''' The obligation-
--->'''Klopfer:''' Fuck.
--->'''Stuckart:''' I AM SPEAKING! (*Klopfer sits back alarmed)

* RidingIntoTheSunset: The film ends with the maid (who is clueless about the whole affair) being picked up by her boyfriend on his bicycle. The ride away, and can be heard giggling.

* ShellShockedVeteran: Of a sort; of the participants at the conference, Lange is the only one who is currently directly involved in the fighting in Russia and, while he's certainly pretty enthusiastic about killing the Jews, is clearly a bit haunted by his experiences. This also leads him to hold a certain degree of contempt for the bureaucrats and euphemistic language he's surrounded by.

* BadassBoast: Subverted. The Nazis are not in the least bit Badass, but they do get some zingers.
--->'''Neumann:''' Neumann, Office of the Four Year plan, I answer to Reichsmarshall-
--->'''Klopfer:''' Erich Klopfer, Party Chancellery. Of the ''thousand''-year plan.
** Or how about:
--->'''Klopfer:''' I'll remember you.
--->'''Stuckart:''' You should, I'm very well known.

** BlueAndOrangeMorality: This is how some of the Nazis try to self-justify - as the "master race", they don't have to conform to the same moral rules as anyone else. Ultimately, the film provides a deconstruction of this trope, at least with respect to human beings.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Several.

** Heydrich's ESM is delayed for impact. Initially, he is shown to be a polite, clever and subtle man, and his ruthlessness and cruelty is left as an InformedAttribute. That is, until this exchange:
--->-'''Neumann:''' Sterilization-
--->-'''Heydrich:''' We will not sterilize every Jew and they wait for them to die, we will not sterilize every Jew and then exterminate the race. That's farcical. Dead men don't hump, dead women don't get pregnant. Death is the most reliable form of sterilization, put it that way.

** EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: The final shot of the film is a German soldier meeting the "pretty little maid" Klopfer was eyeing up. The two of them ride off into the sunset on his bicycle.

** To an extent deconstructed by Lange, who points out that the current methods aren't industrialized enough, and reminding the cast that some of his own executioners have gone insane as a result.

** Note that this was done quite deliberately. It was felt that attempting to fake German accents might distract the viewer from the film's content and message, as well as providing UnintentionalComedy in a film that ''really'' doesn't suit it.

* OhCrap: Several Nazis have this reaction when Eichmann brings home the scale of what they are planning to them:
--->'''Luther''': 2500 Jews...''an hour?''
** Klopfer has one when he realizes that Stuckart is not in the least bit threatened by him.
** Anyone who deals with Eichmann. The waiter and the SS drivers are notable.
** Eichmann and Heydrich themselves have one when, as they try to slow-walk the rest of the cast to the realization that the Jews are to be killed, Kritzinger, Stuckart and Neumann unknowingly blow the lid right off it with their comments.

* ForcedIntoEvil: Stuckart and Kritzinger are threatened with "attention" from the SS if they do not play along.

* WouldBeRudeToSayGenocide: The words "extermination" are almost never used, and are not written down as such by the secretary. Instead, everything is couched in euphemisms.

* PunchClockVillain: A particularly horrific example. They're planning the genocide of an entire people, but want to be done by 2.30pm and still have time for refreshments.

* ThreatBackfire: When Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart explains, almost ranting, why the Final Solution policies are a bad idea ([[PragmaticVillainy Because of all the German laws they are violating and the mess they would create]]), Dr. Gerhard Klopfer -- having been directly insulted numerous times over the course of said explanation, leans across the table and says, very lowly: "I'll remember you." Stuckart responds "You should. I'm very well known."

* ThreatBackfire: When Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart explains, almost ranting, why the Final Solution policies are a bad idea ([[PragmaticVillainy Because of all the German laws they are violating and the mess they would create]]), Dr. Gerhard Klopfer leans across the table and says, very lowly: "I'll remember you." Stuckart responds "You should. I'm very well known."

''Conspiracy'' is a 2001 {{HBO}} / {{BBC}} TV film that dramatizes the story of the 1942 Wannsee Conference. the [[WorldWarII 1942 meeting of German officials that formalized and developed the]] "[[FinalSolution Final Solution of the Jewish Question]]." It is an English-language adaptaion of ''Die Wannseekonferenze'', a German film that tackled the same subject matter; both films used the only surviving copy of the minutes of the meeting, which was found in the papers of Undersecretary Martin Luther, as the basis for their scripts.

''Conspiracy'' is a 2001 {{dramatization}} of the Wannsee Conference, the [[WorldWarII 1942 meeting of German officials that formalized and developed the]] "[[FinalSolution Final Solution of the Jewish Question]]."

* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: Heydrich and Eichmann get a brief narration at the end describing what happened to them during the remainder of the war. The entire cast each get a brief text exposition, with a picture of the real person, explaining their ultimate fate after the war.

* [[DeadlyEuphemism Deadly Euphemism]]/[[EuphemismBuster Euphemism Buster]]: As befitting a film about the Holocaust, these are used frequently - "deportation," "evacuation," "resettlement," etc. Eventually, after yet another mention of "evacuation," an SS officer stands up and asks whether he "evacuated 30,000 Jews already by shooting them."

* DeadlyEuphemism/EuphemismBuster: As befitting a film about the Holocaust, these are used frequently - "deportation," "evacuation," "resettlement," etc. Eventually, after yet another mention of "evacuation," an SS officer stands up and asks whether he "evacuated 30,000 Jews already by shooting them."

* EvilLawyerJoke: When the law keeps being brought up as an obstacle to the proposed policies, Dr. Gerhard Klopfer remarks that they will just ''change'' the law. After all, how many of the people here are lawyers? When the majority of members of the conference all raise their hands (Including himsef) he laughs and remarks that it was even worse than he thought.

* ThreatBackfire: When Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart explains, almost ranting, why the Final Solution policies are a bad idea ([[PragmaticVillainy Because of all the German laws they are violating and the mess they would create]]), Dr. Gerhard Klopfer leans across the table and says, very lowly: "I'll remember you." Stuckart responds "You should. I'm very well known."

Starring an EnsembleCast, including KennethBranagh, ColinFirth and Stanley Tucci, the film follows SS-Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel) Adolf Eichmann as he organizes the meeting itself. Various members of the German government and military authority, including Nazi Party officials and members of the SS-Gestapo, have been recalled to the Berlin suburb of Wannsee from their duty stations for a conference, but very few have heard what the conference is actually meant to cover. After a round of genial introductions and conversation over appetizers, SS-Obergruppenführer (General) Reinhard Heydrich, the conferences ranking member, arrives and explains that they are there to discuss what to do with the Jews that are currently in Germany, as well as what to do with all the Jews that are in neighborning countries that Germany is in the process of annexing.