Opération Finale

An intelligent, if lugubrious, account of how Adolf Eichmann was captured in Buenos Aires and returned to Israel to stand trial. About the best you can say of Chris Weitz's "Operation Finale" is that it's a decent history lesson but a poor film with a miscast Ben Kingsley as Eichmann, (at the time the film was set Eichmann was 54 while Kingsley is 76 and looks it). As one of the men who did the actual capturing and who, in this film at least, is seen to form a kind of bond with his prisoner, Oscar Isaac isn't at all bad but everyone else in the cast is just some kind of pawn. What's lacking is any sense of urgency. I hate to say it but the film might have been better if it were less tasteful; it's almost as if everyone connected with the film were afraid to get their hands dirty so it's all handled with kid gloves. Material like this deserves better.

"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

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 .

This is the second or third film I've seen that dramatizes the events leading to the capture of Adolph Eichmann. However, this one focuses less on how they discovered this evil man hiding in Argentina and more on what happened after he was captured and before he was spirited off to Israel to face a trial for crimes against humanity.

Of course, such a film isn't going to be fun viewing but the film is not as intense and filled with much footage of the actions of this monster or the SS. As a result, it's probably a good film to show your older kids or teens...of course, provided you watch it with them and help explain the context for the real life drama.

Overall, very well made and worth seeing....and quite interesting.

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.