What would the world be like if Hitler had won the war?
That's the essential, intriguing question behind "Fatherland" (9 p.m., HBO), the made-for-cable movie based on Robert Harris' best-selling novel.As "Fatherland" opens, it's 1964 and Germania - which includes all of Europe - is about to celebrate Adolf Hitler's 75th birthday. And the Nazis are hoping for a new era of detente with the United States.
It seems the Allied invasion at Normandy in 1944 failed, and Germany won the war in Europe - but has been fighting a draining guerrilla war with what remains of the Soviet Union for the past two decades.
The United States, on the other hand, defeated the Japanese in WWII, and has been fighting a Cold War with the Nazis ever since.
But on the occasion of the Fuhrer's birthday, President Kennedy - President Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., that is - is set to meet with America's longtime foe.
That's the backdrop against which "Fatherland" is set. SS Detective Xavier March (Rutger Hauer) is called out on a murder case, and the victim turns out to be a former high-ranking Nazi. March ends up working with a female American journalist, Charlie Maguire (Miranda Richardson), and the secret they eventually uncover is the horrifying actions against the Jews that the Nazis have hidden for two decades.
The mystery itself is nicely played out. And the faux Berlin of 1964 is fabulously created - not only with great effects portraying the German capital Albert Speer designed but never had the chance to build, but in the pervasive fear and distrust that 30 years of Nazi rule have built.
There are distinct changes from the book, some of which work well and some of which do not. There's a payoff scene with both Hitler and Kennedy, neither of whom appeared in the book, although the character of Joe Kennedy is softened considerably. There are no references to his anti-Semitism and sympathies toward the Nazis in the '30s.
And while the movie's action ends differently from the book's, it is equally effective.
The biggest mistake is in a hopeful postscript to the cable production, which goes against the mood the movie has just created.
But "Fatherland" is worth a look. It's a well-crafted, if bleak, story.
And the look at history as it might have been is both believable and chilling.