Speer Goes to Hollywood

As one of Hitler’s closest confidants and his chief architect, Albert Speer was initially tasked with reconstructing Berlin as the capital of a global fascist empire. Appointed Minister of Armaments and War Production in 1942, Speer ultimately became responsible for the torture and deaths of millions of slave laborers. He was the highest-ranking Nazi indicted in the Nuremberg trials to be spared the death sentence thanks to his carefully constructed myth that he was unaware of the many atrocities he was directly involved in. After serving 20 years in prison, he released a bestselling memoir, Inside the Third Reich. In 1971, he partnered with Andrew Birkin, Stanley Kubrick’s protégé, to work on a screenplay to adapt his memoir for a Paramount Pictures film, which was never produced. Previously unheard audio interviews with Speer play over archival footage before and during World War II, the Nuremberg trials, and Speer’s retirement on a country estate, exposing Speer’s unrelenting antisemitism. German expressionist film footage is also artfully juxtaposed with Speer’s narrative, capturing his callous attempt to whitewash his experiences. Director Vanessa Lapa’s (The Decent One, WinterFest ’15) fascinating and pertinent documentary is a cautionary tale about those who attempt to rewrite history.