Speer und er

Fascinating German miniseries about Nazi architect Albert Speer and his strange relationship with Adolf Hitler. Speer is played by Sebastian Koch (who starred in The Lives of Others and The Black Book, and has also played Claus Von Stauffenberg in a German TV movie) while Hitler is played by Tobias Moretti. Most of the material is taken from Speer's two autobiographies, "Inside the Third Reich" and the "Spandau diaries".

The series includes some documentary parts, including news footage from the era and contemporary interviews with, among others, filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl (just before her death), and Speer's children, Hilde, Arnold and Albert Jr. (the last, also an architect, and who until this film was reluctant to discuss his father publicly, is surprisingly dismissive about his father's abilities as an architect). Among the many supporting characters, one has to name Andre Hennicke (who played SS General Mohnke in Downfall) as Rudolf Hess.

This compares very favorably with the American miniseries "Inside the Third Reich" made in 1982 and dealing with the same material (in that series, Speer was played by the Dutch actor Ruger Hauer while Hitler was played by Derek Jacobi). The series only flaw (unfortunately not a minor one) is Moretti's very weak performance as Hitler (this aside from the fact that he looks very little like the Fuhrer).

Of all of the Nazi's, Albert Speer is the most interesting and complicated of those surviving and tried at Nuremberg. I've read all of the books including my favorites "The Good Nazi" by Dan Van Der Vat which was the 1st and most accurate portrayal & w/out any of Albert Speers twisting of truths, & the best of the books by Gitta Sereny called "Albert Speer: His battle w/truth." Sebastian Koch gives a great performance & my only real complaint is I didn't care too much for the man playing Hitler, although he did a pretty good job but his eyes were WAY too blue & he was too skinny. He did have a lot of his mannerisms down pretty well but as much as they focused on Speer they could have focused on him even more. Overall I thought they did a pretty fantastic job I just wish they spent a little more time w/the other convicted Nazi War Criminals as he did spend 20 years there. This is a pretty comprehensive mini-series & It really doesn't need to be done again I just wish they could have done a few things differently. If you are interested in Speer another few books are also good to read. Of course you have to read Speers own 3 books as long as you don't take them for fact because of course he wants to make himself look good. They are "Inside the Third Reich, The Spandau Diaries, & Infiltration." Spandau is excellent w/some of the daily routines & some of the rivalries between these men especially Erich Raedar head of the Navy till 1943 & Karl Doenitz head of the U-boat's who then took over that job & disagreed w/each other hugely about the importance of the U-boats, but by '43 it was too late. Everyone disliked Rudolph Hess (Hitlers Deputy) and they all still pretty much thought he was a traitor for his strange flight to England in 1941. If he were to be Psychologically evaluated today, I'm sure he would treated for something, or maybe he knew the futility of the war by 1941. Anyway the film is very good & I particularly liked the interviews that are blended well intermittently that his now older kids & their honest answers. Especially liked seeing that Albert Speer Jr. ended up being an architect despite that's what his father did. The big question is would Speer have been charged w/so much at Nuremberg if he had never become the Minister of Armaments. It was even worse because he was so proficient at it he extended a lost war a minimum of 6 months up to a year. If you are a WWII scholar, or just want to know more about the mystery that was Albert Speer, this is a must watch.

Who was this man Albert Speer? What did Speer, minister of Armour, know about the cruel and brutal crimes of the Nazis? For which decisions he bearded charge of responsibility? In usual - and usual perfect and brilliant - method of film collage director Heinrich Breloer take a look behind the masks usually the human being Speer every times tried to vanish. In the middle of the plot of these three thrilling, historical very correct episodes (Third Reich, the Nuremberg judgment, the prison in Spandau) Breloer take the (nearly)amicable relationship between Speer and Adolf Hitler, who admires the giant, megalomaniac architectural projects very much. A terrific transformed, careful directed, wonderful acted (especially Sebastian Koch as Speer, Tobias Moretti as Hitler and Dagmar Manzel as Mrs. Speer) historical view, which shows Speer at first not as notary's manipulator but rather as a smart director of the grand delusion of his life. Try to see it, you will not be disappointed. German television of it's best: I give 8 out of 10 stars.

This TV series tries too cook up something new with material that is already known ad nauseam. It is a mixture between documentary and reality TV. The subject: Albert Speer, early Nazi member, architect, "the closest friend of Hitler if Hitler could have had any friend", German minister for armament up to the very annihilation of that country, defendant in Nuremberg, prisoner in Spandau for 20 years, writer of memoirs and as openly repentant ex Nazi frequent guest in the international media after his release.

The main point the series sets out to make is to prove that Speer was far more involved in war crimes than he ever admitted. He was directly responsible for the eviction of Berlin Jews from their flats as a way he proposed to resettle tenants from other Berlin flats that would have to be torn down for his and Hitlers absolutely megalomanic plans for a new town center. He more or less controlled the construction of extermination camps and willingly used slave labour in subterranean armament plants without caring about the indescribable conditions those slaves had to live in. The conclusion: He knew everything and went along with it.

In my opinion too much time is used to highlight the crimes. And the idea to use three of his children as (amazingly willing) character witnesses in interviews was somewhat revolting: What could they say about a man they hardly ever met? It would have been more interesting to explore the personality of Speer and his relations with the people who really were around him. Descendant of a long line of architects and certainly of a sharp and schooled intellect, he represents the civilized part of the Nazi dictatorship. And yet he went along with its barbaric acts from beginning to end without any moral doubts (they came later, so he claimed). He was a tough guy, an opportunist. You find them in every kind of regime and they are equally important everywhere to make them work. So I would have been glad if the movie could have gone closer to explore the type of man Speer represents rather than enumerate again what the man did in the specific historical context.

Speer could have served wonderfully for this exploration of type. His biography sets one thinking. The man was ambitious, a youth yearning for glory, he was certainly flattered by the attention Hitler (a wannabe architect) gave to him, he was power hungry and worked hard to attain his goal. He was able to analyze situations and to react and adapt to them, even under extreme pressure. Here's your ideal man for getting a job done! But somehow the man was amoral. He was able to walk over dead bodies – but isn't that what many want from their men, even in a democracy? Here would have been a golden opportunity to explore where society and individuals should draw a line. In this TV series they let it pass.

Featuring one of my favourite german actors - Sebastian Koch - this mini-series shows how the architect Albert Speer became the confidante of Hitler. It will also focus on the Nuremburg trials and how Speer was considered to be different than the other high-placed people that were close to Hitler.

This mini-series also includes some 'snippits' of witnesses, victims, family members or friends of Albert Speer whom commented on the situation. Whereby some people could find these snippits interrupting, I found them actually to be a great value-add. They fit well in the overall storyline and also give a way better context of what happened 'behind the screen'.

This show is not only an excellent way of learning the importance of Albert Speer in the Nazi leadership, but also shows how close Hitler was to Speer and would allow him to get away with things that other people would be executed for. It also gives an idea of the massive buildings plans that Hitler had in mind: i.e. Plans of such a gigantic scale that were unseen since Alexander The Great.

Overall, I give this mini-series a score of 6.7/10, thereby making it an IMDb score of 7 stars.