The Nazi's produced "Jew Süss", a vile piece of anti-Semitic propaganda. After World War II, the movie was taken out of circulation : as far as I know, showing and distributing the movie is still illegal in Germany and Austria, or at least subject to draconian restrictions. (However, it's a pretty safe bet that there are neonazi's around who keep and venerate an illegal copy, next to a photograph of the Great Guide kissing a darling child with a bouquet of wild flowers.)

"A film without a conscience" tells the story of how and why the "Jew Süss" movie was made. It does so by focusing on the life and times of the actor who played the title role.

When "A film without a conscience" was made, there was a fair amount of controversy : people feared that it would revive interest in "Jew Süss", thus creating a new audience. I understand and respect this position. However, after having seen "Without a conscience" I think that this fear is misplaced, since "Without a conscience" slowly and carefully explains, with admirable didactic clarity, that "Jew Süss" was created as a weapon against the innocent and inoffensive. As a result it's very hard to imagine a sane and decent person watching the credits and saying : "So there's a lying piece of Nazi propaganda out there ? Quick, I want to enjoy it, share it, embrace it ! Or even better, let's watch it with the whole family, so that we can all indoctrinate ourselves. It's high time we became hate-filled fanatics".

Personally I give "Without a conscience" high marks for bravery and usefulness : confronting and condemning the errors of the past is the best way of preventing their come-back.

There are other things to admire about the movie, such as the intelligent dissection of the Nazi propaganda machine : the Nazi's had such a need for industrial-strength propaganda because they told such industrial-strength lies. (But then, how could it be otherwise ? The truth is such a radiantly beautiful maiden that she can afford to show herself in the nude ; the lie is an old prostitute, who needs shawls and feathers and make-up and fur coats in order to hide her sores.) "Without a conscience" also does a good job of capturing the venality and decadence of the Nazi brass : these people may have talked a lot about ancestral virtues and moral rectitude, but they were not averse to mistresses, dirty weekends and casting couches - on the contrary. Give Caligula a blonde rinse and a uniform, and he would have fitted right in.

Finally there is a memorable performance by Mr. Bleibtreu. His Goebbels is deeply, deeply frightening : a coldhearted creature of whim and calculation both, born in order to deal out carrots and sticks and capable of switching from debonair benevolence to vicious threat (or back) in five seconds flat.

"Jud Süss - Film ohne Gewissen" is a German movie from 5 years ago written and directed by Oskar Roehler. Roehler is one of the most successful German filmmakers right now and here he adapted Friedrich Knilli's book for this controversial movie. It runs for almost 2 hours and features Tobias Moretti (Kommissar Rex) as the title character. This film will do absolutely nothing for you if you do not know already about the events that are depicted in there. You so not necessarily have to have seen the original "Jud Süß", but it helps. However, you really need to know about the film's contents and also a bit about Marian, Harlan, Goebbels... And even if this applies to me that I do know about all of this as I am particularly interested in the Nazi years and World War II, I was still disappointed by the movie. It is tough to point a finger on what exactly went wrong. It may be the script. The actors exclude many big names, at least here in Germany. I will not list the names, but you can check the cast to see them. Roehler, once again, works with 2 actors who I am a bit surprised to see in here (Bauer, Stadlober). He has a tendency of casting popular actors that do not have that much talent really. But as long as they are just in smaller roles, it's fine for me.

Anyway, the premise here is excellent. It was a really interesting time for movies in Germany and, as despicable as propaganda films may be, it's still interesting to watch them and figure out how they could alter people's minds back then. It's a film about a film. But it's also a film about Ferdinand Marian's life around that time. We find out about his wife and how that relationship made things really complicated in every regard. But we also find out about his thought process and how Goebbels basically forced him to accept the role. Still, his doubts were mostly not because he despised the propaganda, but because people would see him as a Jew. Back then films were something entirely different. Audiences thought frequently actors would also personify with their characters in real life, even if that may sound absurd by today's standards. Anyway, all in all, I was pretty disappointed here. This film has not many interesting scenes really and it also drags and should have been kept a lot shorter. They certainly missed a chance here of turning a truly interesting story into an interesting film. I was particularly disappointed by Bleibtreu who offered absolutely nothing as Goebbels here apart from over-the-top face expressions and screaming. This was a disappointing work. Not recommended.

This is a fascinating and gripping film. I heard it was discredited at the Berlin Film Festival, but I cannot understand why. Whoever says it's a bad movie, is some sour critic with a bad taste, and when these are together, they infect one another mutually with their moods (or they think it chic to have this view). Nobody should avoid this film only because of their view of it. Nobody but you yourself knows your taste, and the way in which something enters your mind in the strongest way.

And nobody really knows the details that happened to Ferdinand Marian, the exact words that were said, the exact situations. A historical piece like this is never absolutely correct,the real proceedings are lost to us, and therefore different angles of view are allowed, and should be seen as such. And this one was a very fascinating interpretation, that held me captive until the end. This means especially the view on Goebbels, and I'll never forget the color that Moritz Bleibtreu gave him.