In the (incredible) film, Hitler's architect/friend/confidant Albert Speer is seen confessing that he has been circumventing or outright disobeying orders for months which clearly shocks the Fuhrer. However, the film provides little details about the nature of the ignored orders and what impact Speer's refusal to carry them out had on Germany at the time. I'm wondering if someone here could provide a few examples or some context as to what types of orders were ignored and what ramifications this had on the Nazi state.
Relatedly, I'm also hoping someone might be able to provide a bit of context as to the Hitler/Speer relationship itself. I'd be interested to learn more about how their friendship (if that's even the right word for it) came to be and what influence Speer had given his unique position as architect while still being so high in Hitler's inner circle.
As always apologies if this has been answered before, but reddit's search tool was being no help.
Much of the study of Speer needs to be treated with scepticism, and these two examples fit comfortably into this realm.
Speer's refusal to follow Hitler's orders relates to the idea that as Germany was losing the war, Hitler gave a scorched earth order. He wanted the destruction of infrastructure and industry. Speer did not relay this order, acting on the belief that Germany would need its infrastructure in place to rebuild in the post-war period. When Hitler found this out, he allegedly raged at Speer - which contributed to their fall out. The key question to this is whether Speer deliberately overemphasised this claim in his interviews, and at the Nuremberg trials, to present himself as the so-called 'Good Nazi.' He was co-operating with the Allies, while others weren't. He had saved so much of Germany, while others didn't care. Finally, he had even come up with a way to assassinate Hitler through the venting - the other Nazis on trial laughed at this idea.
Your second question regarding their friendship is another interesting one. Speer confesses in his own diaries that he was attracted to Hitler's magnetic personality - the passion, drive and vision that he had. Of course he wasn't attracted to Nazism for its ideology, its racism or any of that ... Speer claimed to be apolitical. Again, you need to be sceptical of this presentation of fact from Speer.
Their friendship was unusual to say the least. Speer has developed the claim that he was Hitler's friend because of their shared love of architecture. There is truth in this statement, as demonstrated by the appointments Speer obtained through the 1930s. Speers ability to get the job done and to build in a style that appealed to Hitler's vision of a 'thousand year Reich' drew them closer and closer together. Hitler loved to work on the Germania project with Speer and they would spend evenings together discussing it. Whether this was based on friendship is difficult to ascertain. Speer wrote: "If Hitler had a friend, it was me" but again, this could have been part of a clever defense to make him appear as Hitler's friend and not an integral member of the Nazi inner circle. After all, you could not just kill someone for being Hitler's friend.
After the initial period where Speer was responsible for architectural projects, he began to assume positions of authority within the Nazi party, culminating in his position as Minister for Armaments. His logical mind again stabilised production which Hitler appreciated. Some historical speculation has led to the conclusion that Speer contributed to the delay of the Allied victory by up to two years. Whether or not this is true, it did put him well within the inner circle of the Nazis and close to Hitler. He was at the Berghof regularly, he built a house there to be closer to Hitler. At one point, he was regarded as being second in the line of succession to Hitler - which raises the interesting question of whether someone who was just 'Hitler's friend,' could have achieved this.
One of my favourite pictures (which I won't post due to not lowing the domain issues for that image) is of Speer and Hitler sitting on a bench near the Berghof. They look so upset with each other. You can find this with a quick Google.
Finally, there are some great works on Speer by the likes of Gitta Sereny - it is a hefty book but well worth a read. These texts help to cut through the legacy which Speer has created for himself - which is often the one that most people believe.