The Conference, a movie

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I'm not into the History Channel style Nazi documentaries, you know the ones that are all graphic and titillation in the presence of horror. Like seeing how close you can stand to the raging bear on the other side of the cage, it gives a rush I s'pose.

I'm also not really into war movies and I do try to limit my intake of American (almost always) movies that glorify the gun and that violence is the way. I say try as I do love a good pew pew / bang bang movie but it's not good for ya, inching closer to the raging bear.

For me the Holocaust has alway been, um, I don't know what the feeling is ... like staring into the abyss, or standing on the precipice and staring down. Perhaps attempting to work out why the bear is raging. It is so dark, so so evil.

I can wrap my head around what, where, when, who, and even why - understanding and agreeing are not the same.

But how, how can those in the darkness survive with themselves when they did what they did.

On 20 January 1942, leading representatives of the Nazi regime meet in a villa in Berlin-Wannsee. The topic of the meeting is what the National Socialists called the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question."

The Conference, a movie based on the diaries and documentation of those that were there on that day gives a clue as to the how.

If you've already ever attended a team away day, or run a workshop, or been a part of a strategy session you will recognise the vibe, the drudge work-a-day feel, the break for coffee before getting into it.

The how is to cover the horror in beige, to remove the soul from the discussion, to use language to pretend you're not at the bottom of the abyss.

It's a remarkable movie of a truly historic day which, if you forget that they are talking about the killing of all Jews (people) in Europe as quickly as possible, could be simply about the most boring work meeting ever.

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