History Film / Fatherland

[[caption-width-right:261:[[BladeRunner Rutger Hauer]] - a [[MrFanservice man-candy]] at its [[EvenTheGuysWantHim best]] even without the [[EvilIsSexy SS uniform]].]]

* HeyIt'sThatGuy: [[Foyle'sWar Christopher Foyle]] is still a cop, no matter where or when.

** A German soldier is shown with a [[IKnowThatGun bolt-action rifle instead of an [=Stg44=] or maybe a G3 assault rifle]]. He's a ceremonial guard though, so it might be excused (such weapons handle better for drill movements).

[[caption-width-right:261:[[BladeRunner Rutger Hauer]] - a [[EstrogenBrigadeBait man-candy]] at its [[EvenTheGuysWantHim best]] even without the [[EvilIsSexy SS uniform]].]]

** Even the geographic dimensions of the Nazi empire are peculiar, based on the map shown in the beginning. Basically all of continental Europe west of the Ukraine has been subsumed into an expanded German empire, when much of this was never the Nazis' intentions. Historians discovered that the Nazis did in fact desire to incorporate nations such as Norway and the Netherlands because of the racist nordic ideology inherent in Nazism, but one can only speculate whether countries such as Spain, Italy, France, or Greece wouldn't ultimately have been annexed into the Third Reich if they already controlled everything else (which they don't in this timeline). During the war the focus of Nazist expansionism was directed towards Eastern Europe (they believed the Slavs to be "an inferior race"), which they believed needed to be conquered, depopulated, and resettled with Germans, who were supposedly in need of "living space". The book follows these events correctly.

** Even the geographic dimensions of the Nazi empire are peculiar, based on the map shown in the beginning. Basically all of continental Europe west of the Dnieper river has been subsumed into an expanded German empire, when much of this was never the Nazis' intentions. Historians discovered that the Nazis did in fact desire to incorporate nations such as Norway and the Netherlands because of the racist nordic ideology inherent in Nazism, but one can only speculate whether countries such as Spain, Italy, France, or Greece wouldn't ultimately have been annexed into the Third Reich if they already controlled everything else (which they don't in this timeline). During the war the focus of Nazist expansionism was directed towards Eastern Europe (they believed the Slavs to be "an inferior race"), which they believed needed to be conquered, depopulated, and resettled with Germans, who were supposedly in need of "living space". The book follows these events correctly.

** Even the geographic dimensions of the Nazi empire are peculiar, based on the map shown in the beginning. Basically all of continental Europe west of the Dnieper river has been subsumed into an expanded German empire, when much of this was never the Nazis' intentions. Historians discovered that the Nazis did in fact desire to incorporate nations such as Norway and the Netherlands because of the racist nordic ideology inherent in Nazism, but one can only speculate whether countries such as Spain, Italy, France, or Greece wouldn't ultimately have been annexed into the Third Reich if they already controlled everything else. During the war the focus of Nazist expansionism was directed towards Eastern Europe (they believed the Slavs to be "an inferior race"), which they believed needed to be conquered, depopulated, and resettled with Germans, who were supposedly in need of "living space". The book follows these events correctly.

** Even the geographic dimensions of the Nazi empire are peculiar, based on the map shown in the beginning. Basically all of continental Europe west of the Dnieper river has been subsumed into an expanded German empire, when much of this was never the Nazis' intentions. Historians discovered that the Nazis did in fact desire to incorporate nations such as Norway and the Netherlands because of the racist nordic ideology inherent in Nazism, but one can only speculate whether countries such as Spain, Italy, France, or Greece wouldn't ultimately have been annexed into the Third Reich if they already controlled everything else. During the war the focus of Nazist expansionism was directed towards Eastern Europe (they believed the Slavs to be "an inferior race"), which they believed needed to be conquered, depopulated, and resettled with Germans, who were supposedly in need of "living space".

* {{Blackmail}}
---> '''Xavier:''' I was thinking of asking [[PaedoHunt interal affairs...]]
* CaliforniaDoubling - Besides the world capital Germania shots being [[ConspicuousCG completely artificial]], the whole movie was shot [[{{Irony}} in Prague and its environs]]. The shown Reichssicherheitshauptamt building was e.g. actually the site of the Czechoslovak parliament and later Radio Free Europe and the Adolf Hitler statue was placed in front of the Rudolfinum.
* CrapsackWorld
* DidNotDoTheResearch + TheyJustDidntCare - The German on some of the wallpapers, Hitler signature on a framed photo, too modern cars (it's still meant to be set in the 60s, not the 90s), etc. Also, it's rather funny that a lot of the furnishings seen in some of the appartments are very obviously from Communist era Czechoslovakia (which of course couldn't have existed in the movie's and book's [[TheVerse verse]]).

*** In the book, ''I Want to Hold Your Hand'' (as in the Beatles song) is heard on a radio at one point.

** There is also a poster for "Die Beatles" seen in the movie. While the book DOES reference an unnamed rock band forming in Britain around this same time, it is unlikely that the same four men would have formed the exact same band given a 20-year divergence in history.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fatherland1.jpg
[[caption-width:261: [[BladeRunner Rutger Hauer]] - a [[EstrogenBrigadeBait man-candy]] at its [[EvenTheGuysWantHim best]] even without the [[EvilIsSexy SS uniform]].]]

A 1994 movie [[FilmOfTheBook based on a 1992 novel by Robert Harris]].

* A German soldier is shown with a bolt-action rifle, instead of an [=Stg44=] or maybe a G3 assault rifle. He's a ceremonial guard though, so it might be excused (such weapons handle better for drill movements).

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel - The whole setting and scenery to a degree.

* CaliforniaDoubling : Besides the world capital Germania shots being [[ConspicuousCG completely artificial]], the whole movie was shot [[{{Irony}} in Prague and its environs]]. The shown Reichssicherheitshauptamt building was e.g. actually the site of the Czechoslovak parliament and later Radio Free Europe and the Adolf Hitler statue was placed in front of the Rudolfinum.

* DidNotDoTheResearch + TheyJustDidntCare: The German on some of the wallpapers, Hitler signature on a framed photo, too modern cars (it's still meant to be set in the 60s, not the 90s), etc. Also, it's rather funny that a lot of the furnishings seen in some of the appartments are very obviously from Communist era Czechoslovakia (which of course couldn't have existed in the movie's and book's [[TheVerse verse]]).
* DisconnectedByDeath : Invoked. An already wounded Xavi cycles to a phone booth to call Pili before his certain death to tell him that it wasn't his fault.
* EarnYourHappyEnding :[[spoiler: March gets killed, Gestapo came for Charlie, but Kennedy got the proof of the Holocaust, called off the meeting with Hitler, didn't help the Reich and latter soon collapsed.]]

* GovernmentConspiracy : In-universe, the biggest one in history.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: The Movie

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel : The whole setting and scenery to a degree.
* HumansAreBastards : Of course.
* ICouldaBeenAContender : Anna von Hagen when displaying her bitterness about failing in her acting career.
* IntrepidReporter : Charlie
* LiteraryAgentHypothesis : In-universe with the last surviving attendent of Wannsee, Franz Luther.
* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident : The death of [[KnightInSourArmor SS cadet]] [[HeKnowsTooMuch Jost jr.]]

* NarratorAllAlong : He's only heard at the beginning and at the end, but it's still notable to say that the narrator [[spoiler:is Pili, the son of Xavier March.]]

* PunchClockVillain : Played completely straight with the ordinary police officers.
* PuttingOnTheReich : The city of Welthauptstadt Germania, formerly known as Berlin. [[FridgeHorror Nuff' said.]]

* SecretPolice : The Gestapo is anywhere out there to fetch you.

* WhiteDwarfStarlet : Anna von Hagen
* YouKilledMyFather : [[spoiler: Rather like I didn't know what I was doing when I phoned the Gestapo.]]

* CaliforniaDoubling - Beside the world capital Germania shots being completely artificial, the whole movie was made in Prague. The shown Reichssicherheitshauptamt building was e.g. actually the site of the Czechoslovak parliament and later Radio Free Europe and the Adolf Hitler statue was placed in front of the Rudolfinum.

* DidNotDoTheResearch + TheyJustDidntCare: The German on some of the wallpapers, Hitler signature on a framed photo, too modern cars etc.
* DisconnectedByDeath - Invoked. An already wounded Xavi cycles to a phone booth to call Pili before his certain death to tell him that it wasn't his fault.
* EarnYourHappyEnding [[spoiler:- March gets killed, Gestapo came for Charlie, but Kennedy got the proof of the Holocaust, called off the meeting with Hitler, didn't help the Reich and latter soon collapsed.]]

* GovernmentConspiracy - The biggest one in history.

--> '''Xavier:''' [[spoiler:I've been a loyal son of my fatherland. [[MyGodWhatIDone I served murderers all my life.]]]]

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel - The whole scenery to a degree.
* HumansAreBastards - Of course.
* ICouldaBeenAContender - Anna von Hagen when displaying her bitterness about failing in her acting career.
* IntrepidReporter - Charlie
* LiteraryAgentHypothesis - In-universe with the last surviving attendent of Wannsee, Franz Luther.
* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident - The death of [[KnightInSourArmor SS cadet]] [[HeKnowsTooMuch Jost jr.]]

* NarratorAllAlong - He's only heard at the beginning and at the end, but it's still notable to say that the narrator [[spoiler:is Pili, the son of Xavier March]]
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed - Though all Nazis named in the film indeed existed, the character of Martin Luther got the given name Franz in the movie to avoid connotations to another Martin Luther, a major religious reformer.

* PunchClockVillain - Played completely straight with the ordinary police officers.
* PuttingOnTheReich - Welthauptstadt Germania. Nuff said.

* SecretPolice - Gestapo is anywhere out there to fetch you.

* WhiteDwarfStarlet - Anna von Hagen
* YouKilledMyFather - [[spoiler: Rather like I didn't know what I was doing when I phoned the Gestapo.]]

* AdaptationDecay - pretty much unavoidable

* YouKilledMyFather - Poor little Pili!

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed - Though all Nazis named in the film indeed existed, the character of Martin Luther got the given namen Franz in the movie to avoid connotations to another Martin Luther, a major religious reformer.

The movie deals with Charlotte Maguire, an American journalist, Franz Luther, the last witness contacting Maguire, and Xavier March (played by [[BladeRunner Rutger Hauer]]), a good-natured police investigator digging deeper than Gestapo deems acceptable to solve the case.

---> '''Xavier:''' I was thinking of asking interal affairs[...]

* HumansAreBastards
* ICouldaBeenAContender - Anna von Hagen when displaying her bitterness about failing in her actor career.

* YouKilledMyFather