The most interesting of villains are those who on the surface seem civilized, often morally strong as their Story begins but involved in things beyond their control turn bad, usually out of survival but often out of hidden aspects deep inside their psyche. Such is the case for Albert Speer, played here by Rutger Hauer with great subtlety as he rises in power as Hitler's greatest architect. You get to see Spirit as a youngster, his talents as an architect of these even then as he creates a model for father John Gielgud for his birthday. Politics in Germany after World War I creates conflict between the young and older generations, and eventually the rise of Hitler (a very subtle and gentle performance by Derek Jacobi) leads too many changes in Germany.
Movies has not always presented Hitler as a raving madman, making him much more dangerous through gentle moments that lead into out of her, and you can see why he mesmerised a nation. Jacobi is equivalent to fellow knighted British thespians Alec Guennis and Anthony Hopkins in presenting Hitler in this light so as he gets more passionate in his speeches (and eventually deadly), you are mesmerized by his very presence even with despising the real-life historical monster.
Standing by Speer throughout the film is the beautiful Blythe Danner as his wife, showing quiet discussed by everything she sees going on around him, and at times unable to hold in her despising of these situations. Gielgud as his father is also excellent, strong in standing up for what he believes in durring earlier scenes but as he ages, defeated by something he knows he can't change. As Eva Braun, Renée Soutendijk certainly stands by her man, even if she secretly rolls her eyes at some of his aspects especially Hitler's insistence that one day the whole world will be vegetarian.
When Braun walks out of a screening of "Footlight Parade", during the "By a Waterfall" sequence, you never know why she does it, and his leering at the chorus girls is ironic considering his hatred over anything valued in American culture. Jacobi's performance allows him to have Hitler mimicking British officials who sent him telegrams, a comical side of Hitler you rarely see outside of a Mel Brooks movie. Veteran German actress Maria Schell shines in her brief time on screen as Speer's mother.
A terrific ensemble and an excellent screenplay and the opulence filming make this two-part TV movie quite good, giving another insight will a war that has had many fictional and non-fictional representations on TV and the big screen. Speer is presented as a man who openly had Jewish friends but got in over his head due to his desire to move up in the party, betraying his own moral values along the way. That's what makes him more frightening of a villain.
This is one of the better films of the past fifty years to deal with the evils of the Nazi party and their atrocities. It is told through the perspective of a flashback as he is interviewed while in prison, leading to the publishing of his own version of the facts, many of which are now known to be false. But the fact that he only got 20 years when he knew so much more about what's going on is certainly one of the great con games of the 20th Century, and this film reveals them all. The opening sequence of corpses in the concentration camps being bulldozered into large pits of dirt is certainly depressing and doesn't reflect the subtlety of the crimes shown on the screen as the movie begins until it is too late.
Movies has not always presented Hitler as a raving madman, making him much more dangerous through gentle moments that lead into out of her, and you can see why he mesmerised a nation. Jacobi is equivalent to fellow knighted British thespians Alec Guennis and Anthony Hopkins in presenting Hitler in this light so as he gets more passionate in his speeches (and eventually deadly), you are mesmerized by his very presence even with despising the real-life historical monster.
Standing by Speer throughout the film is the beautiful Blythe Danner as his wife, showing quiet discussed by everything she sees going on around him, and at times unable to hold in her despising of these situations. Gielgud as his father is also excellent, strong in standing up for what he believes in durring earlier scenes but as he ages, defeated by something he knows he can't change. As Eva Braun, Renée Soutendijk certainly stands by her man, even if she secretly rolls her eyes at some of his aspects especially Hitler's insistence that one day the whole world will be vegetarian.
When Braun walks out of a screening of "Footlight Parade", during the "By a Waterfall" sequence, you never know why she does it, and his leering at the chorus girls is ironic considering his hatred over anything valued in American culture. Jacobi's performance allows him to have Hitler mimicking British officials who sent him telegrams, a comical side of Hitler you rarely see outside of a Mel Brooks movie. Veteran German actress Maria Schell shines in her brief time on screen as Speer's mother.
A terrific ensemble and an excellent screenplay and the opulence filming make this two-part TV movie quite good, giving another insight will a war that has had many fictional and non-fictional representations on TV and the big screen. Speer is presented as a man who openly had Jewish friends but got in over his head due to his desire to move up in the party, betraying his own moral values along the way. That's what makes him more frightening of a villain.
This is one of the better films of the past fifty years to deal with the evils of the Nazi party and their atrocities. It is told through the perspective of a flashback as he is interviewed while in prison, leading to the publishing of his own version of the facts, many of which are now known to be false. But the fact that he only got 20 years when he knew so much more about what's going on is certainly one of the great con games of the 20th Century, and this film reveals them all. The opening sequence of corpses in the concentration camps being bulldozered into large pits of dirt is certainly depressing and doesn't reflect the subtlety of the crimes shown on the screen as the movie begins until it is too late.