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In 1960, Adolf Eichmann (Peter J. Donnelly), one of the chief
organisers of the holocaust during World War II, was captured by the
Mossad in Argentina and quickly flown to Israel to stand trial for his
crimes against humanity and against the Jews in the Third Reich in
particular. But the Israeli gouvernment wants to avoid a show trial at all
costs, as that would put them on no higher moral ground than the Nazis, so
Chief Inspector Avner Less (Richard Cotter) is sent to Eichmann's secret
holding place, a rundown motel, to interrogate the man and prove his guilt
beyond a doubt, make him admit his deeds. The person Less finds is not the
monster he might have expected but a rather pathetic old man who
constantly complains about the atrocities he had to witness in
concentration camps that were carried out under his command, but claims he
only carried out orders from above and reduces himself to a small cog in
the machine, a transportation officer at best. Less's interrogations
drag on and on, so much so that his superiors get itchy and try to coerce
him into forging some of Eichmann's statements, but Less insists on going
the straight and narrow, and eventually, with evidence from back in the
day, and transcripts of statements from the Nürnberg trials as well as
film material from concentration camps, he breaks down Eichmann's
defenses, makes him contradict himself, and admit the enormity of what he
has done - even if Eichmann fails to show remorse ... Now I
can't independently verify how close this film stays to the actual
interrogation of Adolf Eichmann, but I do know what he says in this film
is pretty consistant with his statements in Eichmann's trial in 1961,
likewise is Peter J. Donnelly pretty much on point with his portrayal -
and above all, this is of course and actors' movie, and both Donnelly and
Cotter give great performances, have a good chemistry with one another,
and really make one feel that the film is much more than basically just
one extended dialogue at one location (even if there are several short
scenes outside Eichmann's motel room to break up the situation a bit). And
the direction is subtle enough to give the actors their space, but does
its best to keep things interesting on a visual level. So basically a
pretty impressive watch - but one word of warning, the authentic film
material from a concentration camp is rather hard to swallow (as it should
be of course), so maybe not a film for the faint hearted.
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