Opération Finale

The only serious problem is the good intention in this case. The high ambition , too. Because the film has the right story and the right actors. But not the right director. The film is far to be bad and the music saves many errors or flaws. Ben Kingsley deserves the role of Eichman and the subject is fascinating. But it has not the chance to be the first film about the operation to find Adolf Eichman and the mistake of director remains to give a film who seems reduce the importance of Shoah and propose a love story who escapes to it . But , sure, it has the virtue to be the start point for viewer to discover the real story of the operation.

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.

Films about Nazis always freak me out, even ones like this where there's a layer of cinematic tint. Dramatic set pieces, overly acted dialogue, rousing score. It feels wrong to dress up Nazi atrocities. Yet despite its heist movie aesthetic, this is worth watching, Oscar Isaac is good, in his Golden Age of Hollywood way. Ben Kingsley though, has played some terrifying characters, but is portrayal of Adolf Eichmann is, well it's disarming. There are much better films that cover this subject, but I'll never decry any that highlights what happened during the Holocaust, the aftermath and present day deniers and anti-semites. Films like this have their place, many people struggle with the realities of what happened and if this makes the truth more accessible, then so be it.

Sometimes it is not just about finding someone, or just catching them. It is about how to handle the whole situation. And with "war criminals" from the past, some may even argue: is it worth the time and money to catch and old man? What will it bring/achieve overall? Then again, shouldn't they still be held accountable? There are many moral questions attached to this, though the fact that you still have right wingers going crazy and trying to blame foreigners (Jews in this particular instance) is abhorrent.

Having said all that, you have a great cast assembled here. Sir Ben Kingsley at the helm but many others "supporting" him. It is a tough subject matter especially because it is true. Maybe some things have been heightened (didn't read up on everything that went down), but overall this is quite draining and seems like a logical account of things. So while it may seem slow at times, the tension is still quite high.