Operation Finale

Straightforward film thad had been previously adapted in similar style , dealing with the famous kidnap and trial of the notorious Nazi officer. After WWII , a lot of essential figures in Hitler's command escaped Germany and were rumored to be living in South America as the nicknamed the Angel of Death : Joseph Mengele . And Adolph Eichmann wanted in connection with milions of deaths is suspected to be living incognito in Argentina and being main responsible of the "Death Trains" . Although in the movie Adolph Eichmann is nicknamed the Architect of the Final Solution, the real mastermind was Reinhard Heydrich who was the true promoter of the Conference of Wanshee where was dedided the Jews extermination and there Eichmann was actually an underling.

This is a tense and thrilling reenactment of the capture of Eichmann , posing as Richard Klement . The best scenes are when happen the twisted interrogation to Eichmann very well performed by Ben Kingsley . Main and support cast are frankly fine. Oscar Isaac is pretty good, giving a nice acting as the head of the team , determinated to bring the monster to the Israeli Justice . At the same time it deals with the Mossad : Israel Secret Intelligence Organitation under secret orders of Ben Gurion that will stop at nothing and at whatever cost to detain Adolph Eichman and bring him to Israeli justice.

This one has been adapted too : The House on Garibaldi Street 1979 by Peter Collinson with Martin Balsam , Nick Mancuso, Charles Gray , Leo McKern .The Man who captured to Eichmann 1996 by William A Graham with Robert Duvall , Arliss Howard , Jeffrey Tambor . Eichmann 2007 by Robert Young with Thomas Kretschmann , Troy Garity , Franca Potente , Stephen Fry .

It's 1960 Buenos Aires, Argentina. Teenager Sylvia Hermann falls for Klaus Eichmann. He tells her that he is raised by his uncle after his SS father was killed. Unbeknownst to them, her father is secretly a German Jew. The uncle is suspected to be Adolph Eichmann (Ben Kingsley), the architect of the Holocaust. When it's reported back to the Mossad, Rafi Eitan (Nick Kroll) insists on pursuing the fugitive despite reservations. Peter Malkin (Oscar Isaac) is a team leader. Hanna Elian (Mélanie Laurent) is the doctor. It's a daring operation to kidnap the Nazi and transport him to Israel for trial.

At first, I expected a caper movie. I expected laying out the scheme and overcoming some unexpected hurdles. For the first half, that's the movie and it's not that new. The Argentinian Nazi gathering is very creepy and there is an interesting history lesson. It's pretty good and then it turns into something better at the safe house. It becomes a psychological chess match and that's the more interesting battle. It's a simple good cop, bad cop situation but Ben Kingsley heightens it with his excellence. He's a master of acting. This reminds me a bit of Munich but this is superior.

The story is too straightforward and streamlined. Too much of the film is trying to build tension over the success of the mission but the twists and set back all feel too slight and easily overcome. There are more dramatically interesting ways to tell this story and I think trying to fit it into a thriller mode was a mistake. Maybe a courtroom drama would have been a better fit but the plot keeps butting in when the film seems to be going in an interesting direction, i.e. the interplay between Peter and Adolf. The story isn't bad but it could have been so much more.

Fortunately, Kingsley and Isaac turn in some moving understated performances. Kingsley is especially chilling as Adolf and there is weird intertextual irony given his previous role in Schindler's List. Kingsley embodies the banality of evil and it utterly works. Isaac was a good choice to carry the movie.

This film was disappointing. It could have been so much more.

1960. Israeli agents get a tip-off that Adolph Eichmann, the architect of Hitler's Final Solution, is living in Argentina. They assemble a team to extract him and bring him to Israel to stand trial as a mass murderer.

Interesting true story. Shows how the Mossad investigated the possibility that Eichmann was living in Argentina, how they positively identified him and the planning and execution of getting him to Israel. While you know the result, if you know history, it still makes for very intriguing watching. This is especially as there was a large amount of danger involved in the operation - there was a large element of Nazis and Nazi sympathisers living in Argentina and they had significant influence over the government.

The historic element makes this quite edifying viewing too.

Great work by Ben Kingsley as Eichmann. Oscar Isaac puts in a solid performance as Peter Malkin, senior Mossad agent.

"The banality of evil" ... Hannah Arendt The abduction of Adolph Eichmann in May 1960 Argentina is the stuff of thrillers, in the spirit of true-inspired films like Munich and Inglorious Basterds. What makes Operation Finale unique and watchable is the acting of Oscar Isaac as the primary captor, Peter Malkin, and Ben Kingsley as "the architect of the Holocaust." When the two are together, the screen heats up with truth and passion in a muted, underplayed power.

In an expert summer thriller directed by Chris Weitz and written by Matthew Orton, Isaac portrays a Nazi hunter along with Mossad operatives charged to perform the abduction; he carries a burden of memory for his sister lost with millions of other captured Jews. His portrayal is humane, sympathetic, and vengeful. Kingsley portrays a charming monster capable of civility and reason as he spars with Isaac about responsibility when like so many other Nazis he claims to have been taking orders.

Kingsley's Eichmann has minor mannerisms revealing a fastidious killer who can evidence love for his family although he eliminated millions with the nod of his head. His joke about Goebbels, Goring, and Hitler humanizes him, no doubt to the chagrin to more than a few in the audience.

Ever controlled, he converses with Peter as a caring neighbor might under better circumstances. Kingsley exudes the confidence and malignity necessary to be the architect.

Although I suspect the barely escaping plane at the end is as contrived as the airport race at the end of Munich, the heart of this true story is the dilemma all principals face when bringing justice to a wretch who deserves a bullet between the eyes before the long trial begins. Peter struggles with that demon as anyone would do.

Operation Finale, perhaps too seriously traditional, is another of the docudramas that draw us in even as we know the outcome. That's entertaining story telling about grim history. "The Holocaust was the most evil crime ever committed." Stephen Ambrose