Review of Hannah Arendt (2012) by Walter M — 01 Jul 2013

The film is at least partially successful in showing how noted thinker Hannah Arendt(Barbara Sukowa) came to the intellectually impressive feat of formulating the theory of the 'banlity of evil,' starting with her out of curiosity more than anything else to volunteer to cover the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Israel for the New Yorker. However, the movie fails to adequately dramatize these events, with some elements lacking relevance(Although whatever gets Janet McTeer into a movie is fine with me.). For example, I'm left wondering how Heidegger(Klaus Pohl) is supposed to fit in. As a byproduct of its limited budget, the movie mostly relies on interiors which actually helps in encapsulating the hermetic lives of academics. As one, Arendt enjoys the arguments she has with other intellectuals, not realizing the huge uproar she is about to cause with her articles in the general public. Previously, the Israeli government was probably having similiar arguments about what to do when they found out where Eichmann was. By the way, this was at a time when governments would at least consider putting the enemies of state on trial.

As time goes on, Hannah Arendt would be proven right when she said that nobodies are behind the evil of the world. Except, even though he would appear like a meek bureaucrat on the stand when he is simply trying to save his skin, the same could not be said of Adolf Eichmann, as he was at the infamous Wannsee Conference and therefore one of the architects of the Final Solution. Check out the documentary "The Specialist" which is comprised solely of footage from his trial and judge for yourself.