PodBill Just what I expected

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Theo Robertson There's an irony of the worst criminals in history , those ruling the regime of Nazi Germany 1933-45 were so unremarkable , so much so that the phrase " The banality of evil " was coined for them . This film directed by Robert Young chronicles the interrogation of the most banal man of the Nazi regime Adolph Eichmann who was kidnapped by Mossad while he was living in Argentina and put on trial in Israel in 1961 . If Young has heard of the phrase banality of evil then he's taken it a little too literally because this is a rather banal movie There are some good points such as the opening that has Muslim immans calling the faithful to prayer via loudhailers . Forget all the nonsense you've heard about Israel being an apartheid state because 15% of the Israeli population is Arab who are citizens of the country and are awarded the same rights as the Jewish population . On the subject of democracy the end credits has a voice over from Avner Less who describes the system that saw Eichmann commit his crimes would never happen in a democracy and that democracy is the only political system worth fighting for . The film also has impressive cinematography where the scenes set in 1960s Israel has a brownish sepia tone . It makes a nice change to see a film where the primary colours aren't prominent since films nowadays have an indistinguishable look Nothing else about EICHMANN is distinguished and is a rather dull movie as we shown countless scenes of Less interrogating Eichmann as to his crimes . History has it that Eichmann was bullied at school because his peers thought he was Jewish and I would have liked to have seen the possibility that so many high ranking Nazis might have been of Jewish descent themselves . Instead we get something along he lines of a sleazy soap opera where Eichmann meets several hot high class women for sex including a Hungarian Countess . At any moment you're expecting Joan Collins to come swanning in to a scene where THE COLBYS meets SCHINDLERS LIST And that's the problem . SCHINDLERS LIST has a monopoly on holocaust films . If you're doing a movie featuring the real life crimes of Nazi Germany then you have to bring something new and remarkable to the table and this bland banal drama doesn't

lexo1770 There are a lot of things about "Eichmann" which seem curiously wrong. For one thing, this Eichmann is a lot more interesting and colourful than the real man appears to have been. There's a bizarre scene in which he is challenged by his very weird Hungarian mistress to shoot a baby; I won't give away whether or not he does so, but it's not something I've ever heard of before. This Eichmann is a womaniser, a bit of a boozer, altogether a more louche and raffish figure than the rather dull bureaucrat that I've always read Eichmann described as.Yes, the film suffers from some weird accents. Thomas Kretschmann, as Eichmann himself, speaks in a clipped German accent; Troy Garity, Franka Potente and Stephen Fry (in a bizarre but oddly convincing performance as, of all things, the Israeli Minister of Justice) all have indeterminately foreign accents, and none of it really makes sense.Having said that, Kretschmann carries off the job he has been asked to do, and Garity is really very good as Avner Less, who was not Eichmann's prosecutor (as someone else stated) but his interrogator. Less was not a lawyer but a police officer. The subplot of his wife being chronically ill is presumably there because it was true; it would have been better if they'd left it out, because what drama there is in this film is the battle of wills between Less the dogged interrogator and Eichmann the stolidly evasive interrogatee.I note in passing that Stephen Fry might almost be the rather more well-fed first cousin, or perhaps uncle, of Ciaran Hinds in "Munich". The accent is the same, and the tallness, slicked-down hair and intimidating bulk is very similar.If they'd toned down the lurid stuff about Eichmann's sex life and focused on what he actually did for a living, this could have been as good as "Conspiracy". Pity.

Sammy_LA I went out yesterday for mother's day with my mom to the LA Jewish Film Festival where this movie was showing and can't disagree enough with a couple of the comments that I read on here. We both really enjoyed it (had my mom in tears)! I thought it was a eye-opening insight into what happened before Eichmann went to trial, about his interrogation and most importantly giving recognition to the little known police captain Avner Less. It isn't true that other languages are not spoken- I heard German and Hebrew spoken. I think the comments made were by people who wanted to see a remake of the story of the trial which as they point out has been done many times- where this is telling the untold, and more interesting story and background to the trail and examines what Eichmann was actually responsible for. I've also have to disagree with scenery not looking Israel enough having been there many times I thought it very real. Amazing performance by Thomas Kretchmann, with an OK one by Troy Garity supported well by Franka Potente. A really important movie for Jewish people!

luiza do brasil This version of EICHMANN (as a biography, biographical, or as any of the several excellent documentaries about his trails) apparently has a dream cast and technical crew to make the "definite" EICHMANN "fictionalized" film. Was Thomas Kretschmann born to play the perfect Nazi of our nightmares and dreams, or what?Well, here his "Naziness",in total contrast to his brief but impactive appearance in Polanski's THE PIANIST, and in DER UNTERGANG (as Hitler's brother-in-law)is a waste. It's a waste because the script of the film is horrible. His stereotype Nazi features would have been better spent in the USA 1960's sitcom HOGAN'S HEROES.I live in Brazil and have spent a good part of my life here, in Argentina and in Germany, though I'm American and grew up in the 60s when WWII was still as fresh as the collapse of the USSR is now. So, any well-rounded movie fan from this area (or news junkie) would have as a compulsory experience, followed on radio and TV (no cable back then) the before & post-war antics of these Eichamnns, Klaus Barbies and their cohorts.Now, I sat through a 5 or 6 hour film in Berlin in 1998 or 1999 (or was it two 4 hour sittings)of the COMPLETE Eichmann trial in Israel. The documentary was a "big release" as Documentaries go. It was playing in several art cinemas in Berlin, one near the Memorial Church, another in Kreuzberg,and in the Oranienburgerstrasse "art film multiplex" where I saw it.If anyone knows which film I'm talking about, please submit as anew title or e-mail me. It is not any of the options this site gives: (Displaying 8 Results) 1.The Man Who Captured Eichmann (1996) (TV) 2."Adolf Eichmann 2003) (TV) aka I Met Adolf Eichmann" - UK 3."L'Hidato Shel Adolf Eichmann" (1994) 4.Operation Eichmann (1961) 5. Eichmann Trial (1961) (TV) 6. "Eichmann and the Third Reich" (1961) 7. The Trial of Adolf Eichmann(1997) (TV) 8. Witnesses to the Holocaust-the Trial of Adolf Eichmann(1987)(TV).I thought it was Number 7 (the 1997 TV version), but it's too short and has a moderator, which the long film I saw lacked). Anyway, with that film as DEFINITE, REAL and irrefutable genuine human emotion, tragedies, and wrecked lives revealed, WHY make a feature film?Well, as the list of seven above show, there was no shortage of "Eichmann films" when this film was shot, and released. And it has been released. In the Rio Festival, EICHMANN had 4 screenings in the main large cinemas, and was held over for a third week of "Last Chance For the Best of Rio" which ended last week. And the copy had burned subtitles in French, with electronic Portuguese subtitles below the screen. So, it has been somewhat shown around the world. As this looks like a probable straight to DVD release. I had never even read about the filming of this feature, which also (mis) casted the German (but dark and with a star power name) Franka Potente as the Israeli's prosecutor's wife in one of the boring and pointless subplots. Potente, like everyone else including Eichmann, only spoke English, though she and her Prosecutor husband had met in France, and supposedly spoke French with each other. But not a word of German, Yiddish, French or Hebrew is heard.FINE. English is the international language. But this being a criminal court case movie, with loads of depositions, at least one of the victims could have spoken in the 4 major languages related to the case. Just for effect, like Arien Brody's attempts at German in the PIANIST, for some authenticity, with English, though not one of the four languages related to the case, as the main language, but not as-the language spoken 100% of the time! Anyway, there is a "real film" with authentic testimony from the actual victims in their mother tongues, plus a couple of hours in Austrian-accented German deposition Eichmann gave. That documentary was basically in Hebrew, but both sides staunchly used their national identity languages. Eichmann spoke only German, and the Israeli prosecutor, judges, and victims did too - but chose to ask in Hebrew (so the crowd could understand apparently). Thus the translations to French, English, Russian & Yiddish, which I'm counting here as German added to an already long documentary, in black & white, with no visual power film of it all, two sets of subtitles running all the time. It was difficult to watch, but authentic, and a real treasure, something this EICHMANN is not. Again, the hours of the real trial is what you should look for. The Israeli Prosecutor was not a gorgeous and elegant leading man, nor was Eichmann nearly as attractive and "Nazi-like" (as defined by the Hollywood stereotype). This film gives NO new insight on Eichmann. The screenplay is shamefully bad, and the scenery is SO not-Israel. It screams MALTA (where it was shot),though NO southern Mediterranean island would have given us something that looks like Tel Aviv. These islands are ancient, and Tel Aviv started to become a city in the late 1920s and 30s (not in the 15th century).My suggestion: if you are die-hard Thomas Kretschmann and Franka Potente fans, go. But just to see them. You won't find any substance or anything new in this movie - such a terrible waste of time, money, story, and great (and beautiful) German actors!