Review of Fatherland (1994) by Eric-Travis S — 21 Mar 2009

This would have fared better as a mini-series with a few more hours to delve into the social implications of what had happened if Deutschland had in fact won World War II (something that many still wonder why never happened).

Although an extremely clever premise, the execution of this film fell short in the third act, seemed a little rushed, and had more than one epiphany that waas lacking plausability even on the best of days.

There are far more effective "future sci-fis" such as Equilibrium or even Logan's Run.

I do applaud the film-maker's courage in making a film about what would happen if the Nazis had won, especially considering how widely unpopular Hitler's Germany is even today.

I should add that the climactic finale where President Joseph Kennedy, Sr. of the USA was to meet Adolf Hitler, Fuhrer of Germania, involved a night-time gathering surrounded by supporters and lit by torches that was visually stunning. Seeing an older Hitler standing at a podium surrounded by torches (although crazily far-fetched as far as meetings of dignitaries usually take place) was very visually stunning.

An interesting film, but again it could have been developped further and been a great film.