Based in large part on the memoirs of Albert Speer, Inside The Third Reich tells
the story of Nazi Germany seen from the only Nazi insider to write his memoirs.
By pleading guilty with a ringing mea culpa Albert Speer got 20 years inside
Spandau Prison for his part in creating the Nazi machine which brought the world
to war.
Rutger Hauer plays Speer who post World War I was a promising architectural student and protege of Trevor Howard who is the voice of old Germany. Hauer gets invited to a Nazi rally and hears Adolph Hitler speak and is convinced this is Germany's future and restoration among the great nations.
As an architect he wants to do great things, have his name on some indestructible edifices that will stand the test of time. Who better to follow than a man whose ambition is to create a Germany that will dominate for a thousand years?
Speer's family is also part of old Germany and are not thrilled with Hauer's decision to embrace the Nazi cause. John Gielgud and Maria Schell play Hauer's parents and Blythe Danner his wife Margarethe. Concerned with surviving in a country gone mad, Danner focuses in on being wife and mother and pointedly does not associate with Hitler or the gang around him.
A lot of very good players have essayed the role of Hitler. Coming to mind are Everett Sloane, Alec Guinness Bobby Watson,. I don't think he's ever been better played than by Derek Jacobi. What Jacobi does in playing Hitler from the 20s until the end is capture the charisma of the man. The guy who looks like Charlie Chaplin was a spellbinding orator. Even in English, Jacobi captures the essence of that charisma and his ability to move and sway a crowd. That first speech that Hauer hears leaves you no doubt why so many followed him as he reduces complex questions to simple answers, the great skill all demagogues have had through the centuries.
Inside The Third Reich, a great film and another telling of a tale that needs to be told and retold.
Rutger Hauer plays Speer who post World War I was a promising architectural student and protege of Trevor Howard who is the voice of old Germany. Hauer gets invited to a Nazi rally and hears Adolph Hitler speak and is convinced this is Germany's future and restoration among the great nations.
As an architect he wants to do great things, have his name on some indestructible edifices that will stand the test of time. Who better to follow than a man whose ambition is to create a Germany that will dominate for a thousand years?
Speer's family is also part of old Germany and are not thrilled with Hauer's decision to embrace the Nazi cause. John Gielgud and Maria Schell play Hauer's parents and Blythe Danner his wife Margarethe. Concerned with surviving in a country gone mad, Danner focuses in on being wife and mother and pointedly does not associate with Hitler or the gang around him.
A lot of very good players have essayed the role of Hitler. Coming to mind are Everett Sloane, Alec Guinness Bobby Watson,. I don't think he's ever been better played than by Derek Jacobi. What Jacobi does in playing Hitler from the 20s until the end is capture the charisma of the man. The guy who looks like Charlie Chaplin was a spellbinding orator. Even in English, Jacobi captures the essence of that charisma and his ability to move and sway a crowd. That first speech that Hauer hears leaves you no doubt why so many followed him as he reduces complex questions to simple answers, the great skill all demagogues have had through the centuries.
Inside The Third Reich, a great film and another telling of a tale that needs to be told and retold.