The Eichmann Show

Leo Hurwitz dialogue was horrendous, he constantly complained or found fault with everything. I had to stop watching after a while.Pity its a great movie and subject matter.

An obviously monumental time in TV and more importantly for the stories of those subjected to the war crimes The Eichmann Show displays, this film presents the documentary production as interesting if not entirely compelling. The investigation into someone's humanity is well studied, yet it doesn't allow the film to particularly go anyway, although it's opportunity to do so is limited.

The use of real footage from the time is well spliced into dramatic reenactments, and many scenes of concentration camps are incredibly difficult to watch adding to the importance of certain scenes. Overall it is a good representation of the case, however probably doesn't fully do the enormity of the context justice, camera angles just don't feel important given the context.

What to make of THE EICHMANN SHOW? It is necessary to detach fiction from fact. Paul Andrew Williams's production includes large slices of archive footage of the trial, showing the impassive features of Adolf Eichmann as he listened to the testimonies of several witnesses (victims?) of the atrocities he condoned. There are also newsreel records of the concentration camps and their victims, who if they were not already piled up into heaps of dead naked bodies, were left emaciated, mere shadows of what was once live humanity. These sequences are difficult to stomach, even at seventy years' remove; we still wonder how people could behave in such a bestial manner.

The dramatized parts are less effective, to be honest. The action is structured around a conflict between television producer Milton Fruchtman (Martin Freeman) and his director Leo Hurwitz (Anthony LaPaglia). Fruchtman has rescued Hurwitz from a ten-year exile on the Un-American Activities Committee blacklist, but finds him difficult to work with, as Hurwitz seems obsessed with focusing his cameras on Eichmann's face, to the detriment of other events during the lengthy trial. At one point Hurwitz misses a dramatic moment when one witness faints as he tries to recall his harrowing experiences in the death camps. Yet sometimes the conflict between producer and director distracts our attention away from the events at hand, almost as if director Williams were trying in some way to soften the dramatic impact of his piece. Matters are not helped by the regular use of reaction shots on Freeman's and LaPaglia's faces as they respond to one another.

On the other hand Williams does question Fruchtman's morality, as he seems more obsessed with maintaining global ratings rather than broadcasting the material. We are into areas explored in Sidney Lumet's NETWORK (1976) here: are television companies really undertaking public service responsibilities, or are they simply trying to render all events as entertainment to attract high viewing figures? Hurwitz understands the significance of what he directs, but Fruchtman appears not to.

THE EICHMANN SHOW is certainly a powerful piece that needs to be watched, but perhaps the reconstructed material could have been more slickly handled.

One of my earliest memories is the Eichmann trial. Watching the film I now realise that it started on my sixth birthday. We talked about it in the playground built up an image of a monster. In London at the time we were surrounded by bomb sites and so his capture and trial was big news.

I remember vividly seeing the filmed news reports the film depicts and the shock of how ordinary this monster looked.

A good film and worth watching.

The trial and story here it in itself incredibly compelling and tragic. The real film they used within the movie was so well done and brought an element that reenactment never could .

The focus of the film was threefold. First - the atrocities of the holocaust, second the power of media and third weather or not man can inherently be evil.

The first theme is well accomplished and presented in a respectful way . The idea that surviving Jews had been left marginalized and underrepresented for so long was a fantastic undercurrent.

The power of media is also presented well but might be slightly more hidden . This was really the justification for this particular focus , if you know this going in and look for it , you find it and realize there is so much power in what was done to show and document this trial in the way it was .

The third theme, although important is not presented as clearly or as well and I think gets in the way at times of the second theme . The dialogue when Leo is thinking of leaving helps point out the overarching goal of the film , but his obsession with "breaking " Eichmann on a personal level sometimes gets in the way.

Important film, great premise and solid acting . Not done as well as it could have been but absolutely worth the time .