It explores the subject of atrocities committed in wartime and features Joan Baez, Karl Dönitz, Hans-Joachim Kulenkampff, Yehudi Menuhin, Albert Speer and Telford Taylor.
But Ophuls takes the book as a starting point for exploring the possibility of people judging one another, especially in light of their behavior in other contexts, as well as dealing with individual versus collective responsibility.
It was originally financed in the summer of 1973 by the BBC, Polytel, and a private company based in London, Visual Programme Systems (VPS), the latter of whom had wanted the film to dwell heavily on America's involvement in Vietnam and France's involvement in Algeria.
The BBC and Polytel had invested on the basis of a three hour film however, after completing rough cuts, VPS was dismayed at Ophuls' work which ran to more than four hours (particularly his excessive leaning on the Nuremberg Trials and Nazi involvement) and tried to remove him as director.
[2][3] Hamilton Fish V organized a group of investors who were able to buy back the rights to the film from VPS and allow Ophuls to complete it.