Operation Finale’ Eichmann Is Subpar

CHICAGOLAWBULLETIN.COM FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2018

Volume 164, No. 175 Serving Chicago’s legal community for 163 years

K i n g s l e y. I t’s not that his performance as ‘Operation Finale’ Eichmann is subpar. As one ex- pects, Kingsley is exemplary. I t’s that through Kingsley Eich- mann is presented as a dignified, spy thriller has a Ben RE B E C CA dedicated family man, proud of L. FORD his contribution to the war effort —not majestic, but certainly m a g i s t e r i a l . Kingsley problem Rebecca L. Ford is counsel to Scharf A one-dimensional portrayal Banks Marmor LLC, and concentrates her that set up Eichmann as a straw practice on complex litigation, compliance, villain without providing insight board governance and specialized War criminal written as dynamic character; employment issues. She is the former into his perspective would have executive vice president for litigation and killed the film dramatically. film exchanges accuracy for heroism, drama intellectual property at MGM. She can be But with Kingsley in the role, reached at [email protected]. Eichmann is portrayed as a sly fox, a verbal fencer, a worthy op- annah Arendt, the mid- by Chris Weitz (“Rogue One: A ponent in a cat-and-mouse game century philosopher Star Wars Story”), based on Eich- Isaac, who resembles a young with his Mossad interrogators. and Holocaust refugee, m a n n’s May 1960 capture by Is- Omar Sharif, has become a go-to According to Arendt’s now-fa- conceived her theory of raeli intelligence agents. choice for anti-authoritarian cast- mous New Yorker account, Eich- the banality of evil in a The film follows the experience ing, beginning with the Coen mann was nothing of the sort. HJerusalem courtroom while cov- of the Mossad captors, young men B r o t h e r s ’ “Inside Llewyn Davis” So while “Operation Finale” ering the 1961 trial of Nazi war on a mission of drama and ad- through his Harrison Ford-ish role may revisit a moment in history criminal Adolf Eichmann. venture and provides a taste of as Po in “Star Wars: The Last about which we were never more As a defendant, Eichmann, a the tedium and brutally of covert J e d i .” than hazy, it is a drama about man who never finished high work —how things can go awry. The young star’s energetic per- historic heroism, not a cautionary school and had failed at everything The story is told from the performance is complemented by the t a l e . he touched until he excelled —h i s - spective of Peter Malkin (Oscar levity of comedian Nick Kroll, The movie doesn’t presume the torically —in the logistics of geno- Isaac), the Mossad agent primar- who plays fellow Mossad agent role of messenger that normal cide, was so mundane, self-cen- ily credited with Eichmann’s cap- Rafi Eitan. men and women —not just manic tered and insipid that Arendt de- ture, interrogation and transport Inevitably, “Operation Finale” masterminds and mad geniuses — scribes a “dilemma between the back to Israel. takes dramatic license with some in the name of patriotism, follow- unspeakable horror of the deeds ing orders and doing their jobs, and the undeniable ludicrousness may willingly commit and permit of the man who perpetuated them.” atrocities when fed the right Before he was captured and A one-dimensional portrayal that set up recipe of opportunity, encourage- taken to Israel, Eichmann escaped Eichmann as a straw villain without providing ment and lies. from an American prison camp in As for Eichmann, after a trial of Germany and fled with his family insight into his perspective would have killed several months, in which more to a welcoming Argentina. the film dramatically. than 100 Holocaust survivors tes- He was discovered there when tified, he was ultimately convicted the father of a girl his son was of crimes against humanity, war dating, a former Dachau prison- Charming, manipulative and im- details of the capture. In real life, crimes, crimes against the Jewish er, recognized the boy’s famous pulsive, Malkin has been sidelined there was no female doctor par- people and membership in a crim- surname. (Eichmann used a in the agency because he’s made ticipating in the mission as inal organization. pseudonym in Argentina, but his some big mistakes. Success in the M a l k i n ’s love interest. And smug- He was hanged in 1962. A spe- children continued to use the Eichmann matter represents to gling Eichmann out of Argentina cial oven was built for his cre- name Eichmann.) him an opportunity for redemp- wa s n’t the breathless squeaker mation. His ashes were scattered “Operation Finale”is a com- tion —for himself and for his the movie makes it out to be. at sea, beyond the borders of Is- pellingly suspenseful film, directed gh o s t s . The film’s problem is Ben raeli territorial waters.