Product Details

• Actors: Rutger Hauer, Miranda Richardson, Peter Vaughan, Michael Kitchen, Jean Marsh
• Directors: Christopher Menaul
• Writers: Robert Harris, Ron Hutchinson, Stanley Weiser
• Producers: Frederick Muller, Gideon Amir, Ilene Kahn Power, Leo Zisman
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English, German
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: March 26, 1996
• Run Time: 106 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303421903
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #174,618 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This retro-futuristic adventure depicts a 1964 in which Hitler won the war and Joe Kennedy Sr. is U.S. president. Europe is known as Germania and opens its borders to American journalists, hoping to line up the U.S. as an ally against Russia. Set design and costumes very effectively create a potent and prosperous state, culled both from imagination and the history books. More downbeat and perhaps more effective than Robert Harris's chilling novel, Fatherland is brought to life by Rutger Hauer as an SS officer who stumbles onto eye-opening secrets. Miranda Richardson is the tough-cookie American caught up in a web of lies made all the more intriguing by a superb supporting cast. They hook up to solve a murder and uncover an atrocity dating back to World War II. Watch for a particularly nasty Jean Marsh in a supporting role; she steals every scene in which she appears. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb speculation about our world as it might have been., May 22, 2004

By 

Roger J. Buffington (Huntington Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fatherland [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The theme of "Fatherland" is imaginative, and constitutes one of the best "alternate history" scenario stories I have ever come across. Without giving away any spoilers, it is simple: the Normandy invasion of France is an utter failure, and Nazi Germany ultimately becomes the master of Europe, as America turns away from the European war to concentrate on defeating Japan. By 1960, the "Cold War" between Germany "Germania" (still ruled by the 75 year-old Adolf Hitler) and the United States is in full swing. The novel is set in Berlin. The plot centers on a political murder being investigated by Sturmbahnfuhrer Xavier March, of the German SS Criminal Police. More would be telling.

This is a very well done film, and I agree with some of the other reviewers that this film is even better than the book. (By the way, the book is superb as well, and also merits five stars). This is one of those wonderful films in which the musical score adds an extra dimension to the mood, and Gary Chang deserves kudos for his work here. Rutger Hauer turns in an outstanding performance as Xavier March, once again proving that this underrated actor is a considerable talent. Overall this movie absolutely convinces the viewer about how our world might have been. And thank God is not.

I trust that this superb film will soon be available on DVD.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of Hauer's Better Roles In A Chilling "What If" Movie..., February 2, 2000

By 

Armando M. Mesa (Chandler, AZ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fatherland [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is a very chilling and vivid tale of the world in an alternate historical path; What if Hitler had been the victorious hero and lived to see his vision of the Third Reich come to fruition for the rest of Europe and possibly the world ! With this in mind, Fatherland is a true suspense thriller with awesome actors and a believable 60's set design and nostalgic, yet somewhat futuristic wardrobe ( although the film's events take place in an alternate past). Rutger Hauer is one of today's most underappreciated actors and Miranda Richardson is very convincing as an American journalist. The most disturbing role of all is played by Jean Marsh as an extremely bitter Nazi actress; Listen to a very chiling line about the "resettling" of the Jews. This one particular line is very shocking and haunting ! It serves as the underlying basis for the plot in this film.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Beatles in Nazi Germany., August 25, 2006

By 

JOHN GODFREY (Milwaukee ,WI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fatherland [VHS] (VHS Tape)

D-day had failed. Kennedy is president, Joseph sr. that is, not John. Hitler is about to celebrate his 75th birthday. That was all the exposition I needed. It's springtime for Hitler in Germainia. We lost. It is the early 60's & the cold war has taken a hard left turn from what we know happen. The Germans are still fighting the Russians. Hitler wants a peace treaty with The United States. It is about to happen. President Kennedy is coming to Berlin & bringing a lot of reporters. One problem: the Final Solution, what we now know as the Holocaust has never been made public. Any living officials with first hand knowledge are being bumped off. One of these murders becomes public & has to appear to be investigated. SS officer March (Rutger Hauer) is the police detective assigned to sweep it all under the rug. He is a sympathetic Nazi with a conscience & a throughly brain-washed young son. At this point, the SS become the good guys & the Gestapo, as usual the criminals, covering up. An American reporter, Charlie (Miranda Richardson) gets wind of what she sees as the story of her career. Nuff said. The tone & mood of this movie is how victorious, post war, Nazi Germany might have been. A repressive facist regime to be sure but also a bit mellowed. It was made for tv but never even made it to dvd. It is an entertaining alternative history movie.