La conférence

I was positively surprised by the high quality of the production.

I did however struggle with the portrayal of Reinhard Heydrich, who seemed too soft for a man of his caliber. I understand what the makers of this film were going for by portraying him like this, creating a disturbing contrast between his cultured appearance on the one hand and his utterly barbaric intentions on the other... showing a wolf in sheep clothing. I believe that the historical Heydrich was a man who oozed authority and arrogance, knowing that he was very much feared by fellow Nazis and enemies alike.

On the other hand I was very much impressed by the portrayal of Heinrich "Gestapo" Müller by the actor Jakob Diehl . It seemed like a spot on portrayal.

The actor probably did some in depth research on Müllers biography.

Müller seemed uncomfortable with this meeting and conveyed the general impression as though he did not want to be there. Mr. Diehl did a great job in showing the fact, that Müller was not a convinced Nazi but instead a careerist of the very worst type. The type of person who was literally willing to contribute to some of the worst crimes in history as long as this would advance his career.

A very sober, intelligent attempt to adapt into film the meeting where The Holocaust was launched. Historically informative and free from disturbing, unnecessary and distorting dramatic elements. The interpretation of this infamous group of people is as good as it gets. Maybe we don't feel close to the actual Eichmann and maybe the portrayal of Heydrich adds more depth than he actually possessed - he was probably quite one-dimensionally cold and arrogant. But this does not prevent the film from giving a credible account of the events and the different interests and ways of thinking and talking of the participants.

As a Jewish person with great-grandparents who themselves escaped under the Nazis, having heard countless stories growing up, this movie hit.. hard. Not so much because of the subject matter - that's been done before - but the presentation; no over-dramatic excessive presentation with unnecessary musical swells and such. Just... Facts. History. Reality.

I've read the history, heard the stories, and so I was familiar with the event itself. I expected a degree of dramatization for the sake of viewers, but was caught off guard with the stark presentation. I can trace my history straight back to northern Poland, and knowing this event determined the fate of millions of fellow Jews means a lot, and so I was prepared for that. It was the fact that this is a historical picture with some cinematic presentation sprinkled on it - rather than a dramatic piece with some historical garnish - hit me so hard.

Another thing I like about it is the fact that it isn't pushing any sort of ideology - it's not a film written to say "antisemitism is bad and this is an example." It's reality, and so the message is conveyed on its own without requiring a dramatic push to shove it into your face. Truly, an amazing piece of cinema.

A very simple film with most of the scenes confined to a conference room, participated by dull men in uniform discussing technical details. Doesn't sound as interesting as an average Hollywood action film, and still far from a graphic accusation of evil. But the great irony is so manifest for any watcher with minimum historical knowledge.

At least three ironies should be honored. First, Heydrich (the biggest boss at the conference) speaks with such opimism and confidence, and with so much light projected at his face, one can mistake him for a hope for humanity without the help of subtitles and a German ear. He looks like a good superior willing to listen to his subordinates, a bright mind caring about the future of his nation, and a dutiful man following "good" orders.

Second, the greatest conflict in conference was between Heydrich and Dr. Stuckart (medium-high state government official and drafter of Nuremberg laws discriminating Jews): Stuckart objected sending half-Jews to concentration camps, not because he was empathetic to the "inferior race" but because it would cause chaos in administration among the "good" Aryans; and Heydrich condescendingly "conceded" to this "lenient" policy.

Third, when Kritzinger raised the question of the psychological consequence of turning "good" Aryans into bloody executioners, Heydrich ordered Eichmann to explain how Zyklon B and concentration camp is a "humane" way to get the job done without hurting the moral quality of the soldiers.

A perfect film for those interested in Nazi history, in how evil can be perpetrated in such a twisted way that it doesn't seem evil in the first place, and in the application of dark irony. I would play this film in high school and university history courses.

How do you eliminate millions of people? This question had dwelled in the minds of Hitler and his inner circle for a long time. By July 1941, Germany had turned into a fascist dictatorship under the "Fuhrer" Adolf Hitler; the concentration camps were full of people deemed "unwanted" and "subhuman", the war in Europe was about to escalate into the second World War, and the Holocaust had already begun. Now the NS elite looked for the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" and delegated this task to the chief of the Reich Security Main Office, Reinhard Heydrich. A couple months later, on January 20, 1942, Heydrich invited top representatives of the cornerstone political and military branches to a meeting at a villa at the Wannsee in Berlin.

There have been a couple of movies about this most infamous conference in modern history, especially the German TV-movie from 1984 and the British-US production "Conspiracy" from 2001.

All movies face the same problem: Little is known about the actual event, one of the few historical sources is the only surviving copy of the conference protocol that was authored by Adolf Eichmann and Heydrich, both now known as the architects of the holocaust.

This means that we don't really know how the meeting took place, how the participants behaved, what they talked about apart from what's on the record. All of that has to be "invented" by means of film dramaturgy and historical knowledge about the people involved.

This latest film, as well as the previous German movie from 1984, is based on a play by Paul Mommertz, which has both received criticism and praise since its premiere. The subject of criticism has mostly been the depiction of a variety of people, especially Eichmann and Heydrich. Movies often tend to lend Nazis characters like that a demon-like aura, a natural evil of some sort that seems self-explaining. The more frightening reality is that Heydrich, Eichmann and all the other participants weren't demons but human beings, though following an inhumane, extreme ideology; believing in a "cause" that had already lead to the deaths of millions and which should lead to the death of millions more. They truly believed that what they did was right - and that they had the natural right to do it.

"Die Wannseekonferenz" excels in portraying this key event with an eerie sense of cold soberness, perfectly capturing the brutal logic of a fascist bureaucracy, where law is weaponized and everyone and everything subordinated under the doctrine of war and genocide.

No over-dramatization or -fictionalization, no unnecessary background score to paint the picture darker than it already is, and a very accurate historical portrayal of the real life personas - in my opinion the most outstanding features of this film in contrast to the other ones mentioned earlier.

The only thing that's truly missing in my opinion is some sort of historical comment other than the mention of the murder of six million jews at the end of the movie. I think, it is absolutely important to provide the audience with a context of why and when this conference took place, and more importantly of all people involved, especially the lesser known ones. It is important because the planning and execution of the holocaust spanned across all political and military branches, not just a dedicated elite - and despite the secrecy of this meeting the Nazis made sure that everyone was bound to it by complicity.

For all following generations, the holocaust constitutes a crime of unprecedented nature and scale, with terrible consequences reaching into our very present. For its planners, perpetrators and supporters, it was the fateful challenge, the biggest on the way to a racially pure, germanic European future. Imagine the horrors of a future built on the remains of millions of murdered human beings, imagine a dystopia world like that planned in what looks like a completely normal business meeting. That's what the Wannsee Conference was to Heydrich and everyone invited.