Eichmann (2007)

Eichmann is a historical and biographical drama (based on a true story) about the life and career of Adolf Eichmann, a high-ranking member of the German administration who was in charge of transporting millions of Jews and other “undesirable” people to the death camps in Eastern Europe during World War Two. Here is some basic information about this drama which premiered in 2007:

** Director: Robert Young

** Writer: Snoo Wilson

** Soundtrack: English

** Released on DVD in 2012 with the title Adolf Eichmann

** Available on Amazon Prime Video

** Run time: 100 minutes

The cast includes the following:

** Thomas Kretschmann as Adolf Eichmann (1906-1962)

** Troy Garity as Avner Less (1916-1987) – an Israeli police officer – Eichmann’s interrogator in Jerusalem

** Franka Potente as Vera Less (ca 1920-1980) – Avner’s wife

** Stephen Fry as Mr Tormer – Israel’s minister of Justice

** Delaine Yates as Miriam Fröhlich – Eichmann’s mistress in Austria

** Tereza Srbova as Baroness Ingrid von Ihama – Eichmann’s mistress in Hungary

** Scott Alexander Young as Robert Servatius (1894-1983) – a German lawyer – Eichmann’s defence lawyer in Jerusalem

** Bela Fesztbaum as Dr Rudolf Kastner (1906-1957) – a Hungarian Jew – leader of the Jewish Council in Budapest

** Stephen Greif as Hans Lipmann – a fictional character

Since this drama is based on a true story, the basic facts are part of the public record. They are not a secret. Therefore I feel free to mention some of them in this review.

While this drama is based on a true story, it is not a documentary film. It is a dramatized version of events. Not everything happened exactly as shown here, but the basic story is true.

Eichmann was born in 1906. While Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party were in power (1933-1945), he became a high-ranking official in the German administration: he was in charge of transporting millions of Jews and other “undesirable” people to the death camps in Eastern Europe during World War Two.

In 1945, when the war ended, he was captured by American forces, but they did not know his real identity. He managed to escape. For a while he lived under a false name in the north of (West) Germany. In 1950 he escaped to Latin America. He settled in Argentina where his family joined him in 1952 (his wife Veronika – aka Vera - and three children; a fourth child was born in Buenos Aires in 1955).

In 1960 he was captured by Israeli agents and secretly transported to Israel where he was put on trial in 1961. The charges: war crimes and crimes against humanity. At the end of the trial he was found guilty and sentenced to death. He appealed, but his appeal was denied. In 1962 he was executed.

As stated above, this drama is about the life and career of Adolf Eichmann, but it does not cover his whole life from the beginning to the end. It focuses on a brief but significant part of his life: his time in Israel, i.e. the end of his life. The story begins in 1960 when he is captured by Israeli agents in Argentina and transported to Israel where he is put on trial. Before the trial can begin, he is interrogated by a police officer, Captain Avner Less.

In this drama we follow the interrogation which takes place in 1960. From time to time, the interrogation is interrupted by flashbacks to the time when Eichmann was a high-ranking official in the German administration. The drama ends when the interrogation ends. There is nothing about the trial which takes place in 1961. There is nothing about the execution which takes place in 1962.

What do reviewers say about this historical and biographical drama? Here are the results of three movie aggregators:

** 59 per cent – IMDb = 3.0 stars on Amazon

** 38 per cent – Rotten Tomatoes = 1.9 stars on Amazon

** 35 per cent – Metacritic = 1.8 stars on Amazon

The topic is very interesting, but the ratings are not impressive, as you can see. In fact, they are rather poor. I can understand why. There are flaws in this drama; and some of them are quite serious. Here are the flaws I have noticed:

# 1. The main story is set in Israel, but the drama is filmed in Malta. It is not filmed in the right location.

# 2. During flashbacks to the past, Eichmann is seen in a uniform which is incorrect. He wears an SS uniform, but he worked for a department called RSHA Referat IV B4. This department is mentioned by Avner in his interrogation.

# 3. In one scene, Avner is in an office where a map of Europe hangs on the wall. The map shows Europe as it was around the year 2000, but this scene is set in 1960, when the map of Europe looked quite different. It seems the movie-makers forgot to find an old map of Europe.

# 4. In the drama, Eichmann has a mistress in Austria whose name is Miriam Fröhlich. According to information presented in the drama, she is Jewish. In the drama, Eichmann also has a mistress in Hungary. Her name is Ingrid von Ihama. Both women are seen in flashbacks to the past. Why are these women included in the drama? Do they add anything that is relevant or useful to Avner’s interrogation? No they do not! If Eichmann had a mistress in Austria and another mistress in Hungary, does this make him guilty of war crimes or crimes against humanity? No, it does not!

There is of course an obvious reason why these women are included in the story: the director and the writer wanted to show us two beautiful women in order to make the story more interesting, but these women are not relevant to the interrogation.

# 5. In a scene set in 1942, Eichmann says he has been ordered to go to Hungary. This cannot be true. He was ordered to go to Hungary in 1944. So the chronology of the drama is false. The movie-makers failed to give us the correct chronology of Eichmann’s life and career.

# 6. In one scene, angry demonstrators assemble in front of the police station where the interrogation takes place. An activist throws a Molotov cocktail over the fence. It lands on Avner's Volkswagen and sets it on fire. The next day Avner drives to work in the same Volkswagen. It seems the movie-makers forgot that his car was totally destroyed the day before! This is a problem with continuity.

# 7. Eichmann is German, but he speaks English to the people around him (in the past and in the present). Avner and his wife Vera are both from Germany (they met in France), but speak English to each other. In fact, almost every word spoken in this drama is in English, which is highly unrealistic. It is a gross violation of historical accuracy. In my opinion, this flaw is the worst of all the flaws mentioned here.

As you can see, the poor ratings are fully justified. This drama is fatally flawed. It cannot get more than two stars.

PS # 1. For more information see the following books:

** Eichmann: His Life and Crimes by David Cesarani (2005, 2006)

** Hunting Eichmann: Chasing down the World’s most Notorious Nazi by Neal Bascomb (2009, 2010)

** Eichmann before Jerusalem: The Unexamined Life of a Mass Murderer by Bettina Stangneth (2014, 2016)

PS # 2. The following articles are available online:

** “Memoirs of an accidental mass murderer,” The Independent, 12 August 1999

** “Eichmann revisited,” Jerusalem Post, 20 April 2011

** “Eichmann’s Israeli interrogator reburied in Berlin,” Daily Mail, 23 May 2014

PS # 3. Eichmann’s 1961 trial in Jerusalem is an important element in the historical and biographical drama Hannah Arendt, which premiered in 2012.

PS # 4. The following movies focus on how Eichmann was captured by Israeli agents in Argentina and transported to Israel in 1960:

** The House on Garibaldi Street (1979)

** The Man Who Captured Eichmann (1996)

** Operation Finale (2018)

*****