Speer and Hitler (2005)

Let's be realistic.

Lack of good storyline.

Instant Favorite.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

"Speer und er" is a German mini-series from 2005, so this one is already over a decade old. It was written and directed by Heinrich Breloer and as he was not exactly too prolific in the last years, it is still one of his most recent career effort. He will return with a new mini series focusing on Bertolt Brecht soon. But back to this one here, it consists of three episodes of roughly 90 minutes each, so the entire thing runs for 4.5 hours. The title characters are played by Sebastian Koch and Tobias Moretti. But Koch's Speer is certainly much more in the center of it all, especially in chapters 2 and 3. This is actually from one year before Koch starred in the Oscar-winning "Das Leben der Anderen". The structure here is pretty clean. The first 90 minutes are about Speer's rise next to Hitler, the second 90 minutes are about the trial against him and the final installment is about his life as a prisoner. I believe quality-wise all chapters are pretty much on the same high level. Subjective taste and personal preference will decide which of the three is your favorite. I think my favorite is the first because Moretti's Hitler was great too and I just like Nazi films in general. But the third chapter was also really good when his involvement is discussed in detail or the second with all the other Nazis in Nuremberg and the genuinely very tense moment when the sentence is announced and this one is probably even more effective if you don't know about him not being given the death penalty. Another crucial component in these 4.5 hours is the documentary aspect. There are many many video recordings, photos and interviews included in here, with Speer's children especially and these may be the most interesting non-acted parts. Also during these interviews the subject of guilt is not just present, but dominant from start to finish. I think this three-part film made a good statement when it comes to Speer enjoying his rise to power, but also not losing his artistic approach out of sight. Is he evil? No. Is he innocent? No. The exact position between these two extremes is up for interpretation in Speer's case. Once again, your subjective opinion is crucial. This film provides all the information you need to make a judgment. It was certainly a good watch and I recommend checking it out. Thums up.

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).

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.

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.