Customer Reviews

Fatherland [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

What if the Nazis had won World War II in Europe? Most of Europe is now Germania, Winston Churchill died in disgrace and in exile, the Russians continue the war in the East, and there is a Cold War with the United States. Germania is preparing to celebrate Hitler's 75th birthday, with a visit from U.S. President Joseph Kennedy. SS Police Officer played by Rutger Hauer is investigating recent murders of one-time top officials, even as one of these remaining officials seeks to contact an American journalist, attempting to blow the lid off the long-concealed Holocaust. Most people believe that the Jews were merely relocated. The movie was startlingly plausible, but the ending, to me, sorely lacked substantial resolution. It was as if it just sort of ran out of steam. Perhaps a larger budget could have made for a more dramatic ending. Nonetheless, I give it a high rating for being an otherwise excellent "what-if-history" type of movie, a concept which I generally enjoy, and which is not often presented. In the same genre, I also recommend "The Final Countdown", which postulates what might happen if a modern-day aircraft carrier suddenly found itself near Pearl Harbor -- on December 6, 1941...

I really enjoyed this movie on VHS but I'm waiting/hoping for a DVD release because the tape is starting to wear out in a few places. Rutger Hauer has never been one of my favorite actors so I was genuinely surprised when I was sucked into this alternate history thriller.

This movie is a great cinematic release of the origional text. The book is, by far, better than the film, however the film paints a vivid, picture of what Nazi Germany would look like if it had lived to the 1960's - with color video and sound. Excellent viewing, recommended. A+ for HBO.

I missed the movie (I think it was broadcast in 1993 or 1994) and saw bits and pieces of it through out the years. The video and packaging was delivered in excellent condition before the estimated ship date. My only wish is that HBO films makes it into a DVD!

An extraordinary, though flawed film, which presents a believable picture of how the world might look if Hitler Germany had won World War 2. Well worth a look, but oddly ignored by Leonard Maltin in his "2011 Movie Guide".

This video is a reverse thinking of the "what if concept"...sort of like an alternate reality.

It shows how things might have been.

I like videos that make you think & expand the horizons of thought.

What would the world be like if WWII had turned out the way it did?

This movie demands special attention & deep level of patience.

Remember that not all those affiliated w/ the Nazi Party shared the core beliefs or were necesarily Party Members by choice.

This shows part of that & that there were good meaning people.

Harris' work is deeply intriguing in the way a body totally infested with carcinoma FASCInates (no pun, this!) and fixates the human attention. What if Uncle Adolf won WWII? Harris obviously did his research, and offers the transfixed reader a rare vision of the Hitlerian society had Nazi Germany existed till 1964. But b-a-a-a-a-d plotting flawed this novel-based HBO TV-movie. No character acted with conviction in the story. Much better if Harris had expanded this rather thin novel into a Dune-size novel with proper character-development. Harris could not explain plausibly the motives of Nebe, the Head of the nazi police, in aiding Sturmbannfuhrer Marsh, the leading SS black-clad flatfoot in this futuro-nazi-whodunnit. Perhaps he could have stirred in a plot by top nazis to exploit the scandal of the Holocaust to stage a supremely cynical putsch against Hitler and install a more "acceptable" liberal/progressive band of leaders acceptable to the civilized world. Lotsa lost opportunity here. Pity. Read it once to discover the promise that was not. The only visually interesting bit was the CGI recreation of what Berlin might have looked like if Albert Speer's (Hitler's pet architect) freudian designs had managed to get built. Wait for the inevitable DVD to come out. All in all, one of the better (and all too rare) Alternate Future works that made it to moviedom (albeit TV moviedom). Might have benefited from a bigger budget and boxoffice release.