When I first heard about this film (today, admittedly) my immediate thought was “please let it be Jeremy Irons to play Neville Chamberlain!” and well, here we are.
And there he is, waving the infamous “piece of paper”. Chamberlain was British Prime Minister from 1937 to 1940 (WW2 broke out in 1939), and pursued a policy of appeasement with an increasingly aggressive Germany. The film focuses on two old friends on opposite sides at the Munich Conference: Hugh Legat (George MacKay) and Paul von Hartmann (Jannis Niewöhner).
Here’s the synopsis:
Based on the international bestseller by Robert Harris. It is Autumn 1938 and Europe stands on the brink of war. Adolf Hitler is preparing to invade Czechoslovakia and Neville Chamberlain’s government desperately seeks a peaceful solution. With the pressure building, Hugh Legat, British civil servant, and Paul von Hartmann, German diplomat, travel to Munich for the emergency Conference. As negotiations begin, the two old friends find themselves at the centre of a web of political subterfuge and very real danger. With the whole world watching, can war be averted and, if so, at what cost?
Munich: The Edge Of War is out in selected cinemas in early January and will stream on Netflix on 21 January. It’s directed by Christian Schwochow. www.netflix.com/Munich
