There are a couple of ways of looking at Eichmann's capture, conviction, and execution -- and they lead to different conclusions.
Morally, of course, the guy was responsible for the brutalization and deaths of more than six million innocent people. "More" than six million because nobody really knows how many, and the homosexuals, mentally retarded, political undesirables, gypsies, and the rest are often forgotten. It was morally right for Eichmann to be hanged.
Psychologically, I'm not so sure. We all need enemies. They serve as bad examples for the rest of us. They hold us together. When they've escaped justice, they animate our existence. We can see the dynamic at work today in America. The air is full of hatred. With the execution of Eichmann, part of our reason for being disappeared. It's like achieving any other grand goal to which you've dedicated years. What follows the initial celebration is an emotional let down. I wonder how many of us slumped when we learned that Josef Mengele was confirmed to have been long dead, deep down, underneath the gratitude paid to Fortune.
Sociologically, the results are mixed. Religious offenses are carried across generations. Anyone of Jewish background is less likely to forgive and forget. Not a family went unscathed. Germany will always be the villain for all of us, although every German who participated in any way in the Nazi genocidal program is now dead. The Shi'ites and Sunni have been at each others' throats, on and off, for more than a thousand years.
The film is told mostly from Eichmann's point of view when he was a captive being interrogated. A fine performance from Thomas Kretschmann, whether as the young SS officer or the self-justifying prisoner. And from Franke Potente as the interrogator's wife, Vera, although she's dubbed. Troy Garity, as Avner Less, the interrogator, is particularly weak. There are times when it seems that he's never acted before.
The flashbacks begin when Eichmann is already a colonel in the SS, and he's a heartless and treacherous bastard. He may love his children -- it sounds like it -- but he's an adulterer and manipulator. In Budapest, he takes up with a succulent baroness, Tereza Srbová, with whom, under other circumstances, any normally depraved man would willingly take up.
Some of it is literally hard to believe. The baroness gets Eichmann all hot and glandular by having him recite the number of Jews he's killed from different countries while sitting naked on his lap. Later, she brings him a cheerful baby in a basket, tells Eichmann that the baby's blood is tainted, and orders him to kill the baby on the spot. And don't worry. The flesh will be fed to the dogs and the tiny bones ground up for fertilizer. "I've always heard the cabbages from Budapest are the best." Eichmann hesitates, then shoots the babe with his pistol. Murdering the toddler, yes. He murdered a million toddlers. But shooting it in its cradle in front of his anti-Semitic girl friend? It's easier to believe that the Chief Interrogator drove a Volkswagon in 1963 Jerusalem, which he does.
At least we're spared the horrors of the concentration camp films, and Eichmann isn't presented as a slavering monster. The narrative is really a duel between the solemn Jewish interrogator and the suave Eichmann. Most flashbacks are brief. We listen to a list of Eichmann's many sins and watch him smoothly deny them. "Die Wannseekonferenz" captures the younger Eichmann as little more than a secretary when the Nazis were trying to unravel the numerous knots of the "final solution." It's a more informative film than this because it tells us things we didn't already know.
Or DO we know about Eichmann and the Nazi genocide? A survey of 1,000 secondary school pupils aged 11-16 revealed that 15% were not sure what Auschwitz was. 10% thought the infamous Nazi camp was a country bordering Germany and 2% thought it was a brand of beer. A further 2% identified Auschwitz as a religious festival, while a worrying 1% believed it was a type of bread. The poll also found that 60% did not know what the Final Solution was, with a 20% thinking it was the name given to the peace talks which ended the Second World War. (sky.com)
Morally, of course, the guy was responsible for the brutalization and deaths of more than six million innocent people. "More" than six million because nobody really knows how many, and the homosexuals, mentally retarded, political undesirables, gypsies, and the rest are often forgotten. It was morally right for Eichmann to be hanged.
Psychologically, I'm not so sure. We all need enemies. They serve as bad examples for the rest of us. They hold us together. When they've escaped justice, they animate our existence. We can see the dynamic at work today in America. The air is full of hatred. With the execution of Eichmann, part of our reason for being disappeared. It's like achieving any other grand goal to which you've dedicated years. What follows the initial celebration is an emotional let down. I wonder how many of us slumped when we learned that Josef Mengele was confirmed to have been long dead, deep down, underneath the gratitude paid to Fortune.
Sociologically, the results are mixed. Religious offenses are carried across generations. Anyone of Jewish background is less likely to forgive and forget. Not a family went unscathed. Germany will always be the villain for all of us, although every German who participated in any way in the Nazi genocidal program is now dead. The Shi'ites and Sunni have been at each others' throats, on and off, for more than a thousand years.
The film is told mostly from Eichmann's point of view when he was a captive being interrogated. A fine performance from Thomas Kretschmann, whether as the young SS officer or the self-justifying prisoner. And from Franke Potente as the interrogator's wife, Vera, although she's dubbed. Troy Garity, as Avner Less, the interrogator, is particularly weak. There are times when it seems that he's never acted before.
The flashbacks begin when Eichmann is already a colonel in the SS, and he's a heartless and treacherous bastard. He may love his children -- it sounds like it -- but he's an adulterer and manipulator. In Budapest, he takes up with a succulent baroness, Tereza Srbová, with whom, under other circumstances, any normally depraved man would willingly take up.
Some of it is literally hard to believe. The baroness gets Eichmann all hot and glandular by having him recite the number of Jews he's killed from different countries while sitting naked on his lap. Later, she brings him a cheerful baby in a basket, tells Eichmann that the baby's blood is tainted, and orders him to kill the baby on the spot. And don't worry. The flesh will be fed to the dogs and the tiny bones ground up for fertilizer. "I've always heard the cabbages from Budapest are the best." Eichmann hesitates, then shoots the babe with his pistol. Murdering the toddler, yes. He murdered a million toddlers. But shooting it in its cradle in front of his anti-Semitic girl friend? It's easier to believe that the Chief Interrogator drove a Volkswagon in 1963 Jerusalem, which he does.
At least we're spared the horrors of the concentration camp films, and Eichmann isn't presented as a slavering monster. The narrative is really a duel between the solemn Jewish interrogator and the suave Eichmann. Most flashbacks are brief. We listen to a list of Eichmann's many sins and watch him smoothly deny them. "Die Wannseekonferenz" captures the younger Eichmann as little more than a secretary when the Nazis were trying to unravel the numerous knots of the "final solution." It's a more informative film than this because it tells us things we didn't already know.
Or DO we know about Eichmann and the Nazi genocide? A survey of 1,000 secondary school pupils aged 11-16 revealed that 15% were not sure what Auschwitz was. 10% thought the infamous Nazi camp was a country bordering Germany and 2% thought it was a brand of beer. A further 2% identified Auschwitz as a religious festival, while a worrying 1% believed it was a type of bread. The poll also found that 60% did not know what the Final Solution was, with a 20% thinking it was the name given to the peace talks which ended the Second World War. (sky.com)