This past Tuesday was a Jewish Holy Day where we refrain from eating and drinking for 25 hours in order to remind us of the destruction of the Two Holy Temples. In order to try and connect with the somber feeling of this day, every year I try to watch films dealing with another attempt to eradicate my religion; The Holocaust. This year, I watched 4. Here is my third review:
[to Lange] “Politics is a nasty game. I think soldiering requires the discipline to do the unthinkable and politics requires the skill to get someone else to do the unthinkable for you.” – Heydrich
Number of Times Seen – 2 (2 Dec 2004 and 1 Aug 2017)
Brief Synopsis – Dramatization of the Wannsee Conference where high level Nazi’s decided on how to deal with the “Jewish Problem”.
My Take on it – This is such an amazing film not necessary because of its content but more so due to the way that they present this story.
The idea of making a film about a conversation between high level Nazis may seem like a mistake, but they are able to give us a real impression of how such a conference could possibly have been held.
The dialogue is truly exquisite and it is quite riveting listening to the way that they all discuss their “perceived” problem so matter-of-factly.
Despite the majority of this film being so dialogue driven and not much really happening around them, they do an amazing job keeping this quite interesting to watch unfold.
The cast is perfectly chosen and Kenneth Branagh, Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci are all amazingly chosen for these roles.
Bottom Line – Amazing production because it is performed like a play with such exquisite dialogue. The cast is superbly chosen and they do a wonderful job keeping the story flowing despite having the characters mostly just siting around a table trying to find a solution to their “perceived” problem. Highly Recommended!
MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – 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. (From IMDB)
Rating – Oscar Worthy
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