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Conspiracy Is A Docudrama But A Special Kind Of Docudrama

Conspiracy Is A ‘Docudrama' But Quite A Special Kind Of ‘Docudrama'
Terry Cornick
BA (Hons) Media Writing
Author, Authority & Audience

Conspiracy Is A ‘Docudrama' But Quite A Special Kind Of ‘Docudrama'
The film Conspiracy was released in 2001 as a HBO production and attempted to re-create the meeting that arguably decided the fate of the persecuted European Jewish population during World War Two. The film has been described as a docudrama, which Janet Staiger explains is:

‘A fact-based representation of real events. It may represent contemporary social issues – the "facts-torn-from-today's-headlines" approach – or it may deal with older historical events…'
(Staiger, n. d.)

However Staiger does make it clear that unlike mainstream drama, the docudrama ‘does make claims to provide a fairly accurate interpretation of real historical events.' (Staiger, n. d.) To begin to explore the idea that Conspiracy is a ‘special' docudrama, it must first be established what ‘special' could mean. The obvious definitions are extraordinary, unusual or unique; therefore it must be determined and discussed in what ways, if any, is Conspiracy a ‘special' docudrama.
The conventional docudrama has always attracted controversy and caused much debate to what worth it actually has. As a mode that has significant cultural importance in the twentieth century it is inevitable that events and actions that occur in docudramas at times will be met with suspicion as to their accuracy. Derek Paget describes docudrama as, ‘problematic because it openly pro-claims both a documentary and a dramatic provenance.' (Paget, 1998: 1) Essentially in Paget's view the main problems are as follows:

(a) the nature and status of the factual material used in the programme,
(b) the kinds of dramatic representation the programme employs,
(c) the overarching worry that ‘dramatic license' might mean that liberties are taken, and gross simplifications made, by programme makers....