THE CONFERENCE
****
Director: Matti Geschonneck
Screenplay: Magnus Vattrodt and Paul Mommertz
Principal cast:
Philipp Hochmair
Johannes Allmayer
Maximilian Brückner
Matthias Bundschuh
Fabian Busch
Jakob Diehl
Country: Germany
Classification: M
Runtime: 107 mins.
Australian release date: 11 August 2022.
German director Matti Geschonneck’s The Conference chillingly recreates one of the most reviled meetings in history, the infamous Wannsee Conference. On a cold winter’s morning on January 20th, 1942, a powerful group of Nazis gathered at a requisitioned villa on the banks of Lake Wannsee, the westernmost locality of Berlin, to discuss what they euphemistically referred to as “the Final Solution to the Jewish Question.” What that phrase really meant was the planning of the deliberate, systematic annihilation of 11 million European Jews - the entire Jewish populations of the countries under the control of the German Reich and territories under its influence. The 15 attendees came from all the key areas of German military and political life, including the Schutzstaffel, otherwise known as the SS, the Reich Chancellery, political ministries, the police and public administration. What makes the movie especially unnerving is the fact that its script closely follows the minutes of the actual meeting as recorded by SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann (of which only one copy remains), one of the Holocaust’s key architects.
The conference was headed by SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich (a disturbing performance by Philip Hochmair), chief of the Reich Security Main Office, an educated and urbane man who never used words like annihilation or mass murder in relation to what was being discussed, preferring to use bureaucratic and veiled language to hide the horror of the plan. All present, however, were under no illusions about what was really being considered. Once or twice during the meeting you think that one of the participants is expressing some moral qualms about the project at hand but it’s only ever in relation to the toll it might take on the German soldiers responsible for the slaughter - there’s never the slightest doubt about the ethics of murdering the Jewish people, even those who fought for Germany in World War I. In fact, there was so little argument or dissent that the whole ghastly affair was over in 90 minutes.
Geschonneck keeps you on the edge of your seat as the plotters raise various points for debate during the confab, usually with an eye to passing on work to other areas rather than taking it on in their own departments. The camera prowls the conference room, pertinently selecting each of the men (and they are all men, with the single exception of a female stenographer), ensuring that we know each and every one of them has blood on their hands and that they are collectively guilty. The screenplay is very wordy but that serves to increase the horror of the goings on - to use Hannah Arendt’s famous phrase, the verbosity and double-speak merely illustrate “the banality of evil.” The men rarely leave the room, breaking only a couple of times for some ‘light refreshment.’
The Conference was made to mark the 80th anniversary of that terrible day in January, 1942, and a statement by Executive Producer Oliver Berben of the film’s production company, reminds us why it is such an important project. He says, “For 1700 years, the Jewish people have made a significant contribution to the political, cultural and social life of [Germany]. However, open and latent antisemitism is once again on the rise in large swathes of society. Many people in our country are indifferent to this development. The film The Conference aims to give all people in Germany and beyond the opportunity to experience how words can become deeds and how we must all remain vigilant. The struggle against antisemitism, racism and all forms of marginalization is the citizen's first obligation.” He and his company have made an important, powerful and timely film.
Screenplay: Magnus Vattrodt and Paul Mommertz
Principal cast:
Philipp Hochmair
Johannes Allmayer
Maximilian Brückner
Matthias Bundschuh
Fabian Busch
Jakob Diehl
Country: Germany
Classification: M
Runtime: 107 mins.
Australian release date: 11 August 2022.
German director Matti Geschonneck’s The Conference chillingly recreates one of the most reviled meetings in history, the infamous Wannsee Conference. On a cold winter’s morning on January 20th, 1942, a powerful group of Nazis gathered at a requisitioned villa on the banks of Lake Wannsee, the westernmost locality of Berlin, to discuss what they euphemistically referred to as “the Final Solution to the Jewish Question.” What that phrase really meant was the planning of the deliberate, systematic annihilation of 11 million European Jews - the entire Jewish populations of the countries under the control of the German Reich and territories under its influence. The 15 attendees came from all the key areas of German military and political life, including the Schutzstaffel, otherwise known as the SS, the Reich Chancellery, political ministries, the police and public administration. What makes the movie especially unnerving is the fact that its script closely follows the minutes of the actual meeting as recorded by SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann (of which only one copy remains), one of the Holocaust’s key architects.
The conference was headed by SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich (a disturbing performance by Philip Hochmair), chief of the Reich Security Main Office, an educated and urbane man who never used words like annihilation or mass murder in relation to what was being discussed, preferring to use bureaucratic and veiled language to hide the horror of the plan. All present, however, were under no illusions about what was really being considered. Once or twice during the meeting you think that one of the participants is expressing some moral qualms about the project at hand but it’s only ever in relation to the toll it might take on the German soldiers responsible for the slaughter - there’s never the slightest doubt about the ethics of murdering the Jewish people, even those who fought for Germany in World War I. In fact, there was so little argument or dissent that the whole ghastly affair was over in 90 minutes.
Geschonneck keeps you on the edge of your seat as the plotters raise various points for debate during the confab, usually with an eye to passing on work to other areas rather than taking it on in their own departments. The camera prowls the conference room, pertinently selecting each of the men (and they are all men, with the single exception of a female stenographer), ensuring that we know each and every one of them has blood on their hands and that they are collectively guilty. The screenplay is very wordy but that serves to increase the horror of the goings on - to use Hannah Arendt’s famous phrase, the verbosity and double-speak merely illustrate “the banality of evil.” The men rarely leave the room, breaking only a couple of times for some ‘light refreshment.’
The Conference was made to mark the 80th anniversary of that terrible day in January, 1942, and a statement by Executive Producer Oliver Berben of the film’s production company, reminds us why it is such an important project. He says, “For 1700 years, the Jewish people have made a significant contribution to the political, cultural and social life of [Germany]. However, open and latent antisemitism is once again on the rise in large swathes of society. Many people in our country are indifferent to this development. The film The Conference aims to give all people in Germany and beyond the opportunity to experience how words can become deeds and how we must all remain vigilant. The struggle against antisemitism, racism and all forms of marginalization is the citizen's first obligation.” He and his company have made an important, powerful and timely film.