Sunday, June 22, 2008

The Thousand Year Reich

Author: Jimmy
Location: Nova Scotia

"The Thousand Year Reich"

Directed by Steven Spielberg
Written By James Somerton & Robert Rodat
Score By John Williams
Art Direction By Tom Brown

Principal Cast:

Bruno Ganz as Adolf Hitler
Viggo Mortensen as Hanze Bleich
Uma Thurman as Eva Braun
Anthony Hopkins as Winston Churchill
Adrien Brody as Eli Gold
Natalie Portman as Leslie Van Durren

Tagline: "What If"

Synopsis: The year is 1945. World War Two has been raging for almost six years and the Germans are winning. History has changed. Japan did not attack Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the United States did not join the war effort until 1944. Hitler now controls all of Europe with the exception of England, who's Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, has been working feverishly to come to some agreement with Hitler and his Nazis. There is a problem for the Nazis, however. Hitler is on his death bed after mysteriously falling ill. What he doesn't know is that Hanze Bleich, one of his most trusted advisors, is working against him and slowly poisoning him in hopes of taking control of the Third Reich; all the while spending his evening with a girl who he does not know is jewish. In Poland, the last of the Death Camps is being cleansed. Hitler has won his war against the Jewish people but some are
still fighting. A last ditch effort is made by a group of prisoners, lead by Eli Gold, and they fight back against the Gestapo. The United States is fighting as hard as they can against Germany and Japan but what they don't know is that Japan has "The Bomb".

What the press would say:

Steven Spielberg has completed a sort of trilogy that began with "Schindler’s List" and continued with "Saving Private Ryan". In those films he showed how good could triumph but in "The Thousand Year Reich" he shows us what could have happened if good had failed. The cast is brilliant with Bruno Ganz playing the dying fuhrer and Viggo Mortenson as his killer. Uma Thurman has little to say in the film but her eyes do most of the talking. Her silences are more powerful than Adolf Hitler's speeches. Anthony Hopkins and Adrien Brody portray the good side of the war as they fight back against the Nazi menis. And Natalie Portman plays the conflicted Leslie Van Durren, Hanse Bleich's lover who has a secret of her own. The film takes us from the end of the Second World War to the end of the Nazi Party when Hitler falls from power. The disturbing images of the death camps, which Steven Spielberg showed brilliantly in "Schindler’s List", are all but abcent here as the last remaining Jews fight for life against the SS. Massive war scenes are peppered throughout the film but do not overshadow the more important human drama behind them. "The Thousand Year Reich" is more terrifying than any horror film ever produced. It is a masterpiece that shows the world just how lucky we are.

For Your Consideration...

Best Picture
Best Director
Best Original Screenplay
Best Original Score
Best Cinematography
Best Supporting Actress - Uma Thurman
Best Supporting Actress - Natalie Portman
Best Supporting Actor - Anthony Hopkins
Best Film Editing
Best Art Direction
Best Sound

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