Tue 19 Feb 2019
A Movie Review by Jonathan Lewis: OPERATION FINALE (2018).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Suspense & espionage films[3] Comments
OPERATION FINALE. MGM, 2018. Oscar Isaac, Ben Kingsley, Mélanie Laurent, Lior Raz, Nick Kroll. Director: Chris Weitz.
The Israeli hunt for, and capture of, Adolf Eichmann is a story that has been told numerous times in memoirs, historical accounts, and in visual media including in Operation Eichmann (1961) reviewed here. Although the television movie The House on Garibaldi Street (1979) directed by Peter Collinson remains, to my mind, the standard by which other cinematic representations of this particular intelligence mission should be measured, Operation Finale (2018) is nevertheless a compelling and suspenseful feature film that merits a look for those interested in the topic.
Perhaps the strongest aspect this recent theatrical release has going for it is the presence of British actor Ben Kingsley. Unlike Collinson’s TV movie, in which Eichmann was presented as a man far too banal to be truly evil, in Operation Finale, Kingsley gives the Nazi architect of the Final Solution a sociopathic charm and a sense of malice. He’s a master manipulator, a natural predator capable of finding his opponent’s weakness and exploiting it.
In the film it’s Mossad operative Peter Malkin (Oscar Isaac) who ends up as Eichmann’s psychological sparring partner. After the Mossad successfully kidnaps Eichmann and holds him in a safe house in Argentina, they learn that El Al will agree to fly Eichmann out of the country and to Israel only if the SS officer voluntarily signs a form agreeing to stand trial in Jerusalem.
This, rather than the actual operation to identify and to kidnap Eichmann, is the core of the film’s emotional and narrative thrust. Malkin, haunted by his sister’s death during the Holocaust, is tasked with the goal of coaxing an agreement to stand trial out of Eichmann, a man who would rather die at the hands of his captors than be forced into a courtroom, let alone one in the Jewish State.
Although there’s nothing truly groundbreaking in Operation Finale, it’s overall a solid production that handles its sensitive historical material with care. My one main complaint with the film is that the Israeli agents, with the notable exception of Lior Raz, the Israeli actor who portrays Mossad head Isser Harel, are just a little too polished for their roles, both in terms of dress, makeup, and tone.
Isaac is a talented actor and he delivers a strong, serious performance that isn’t marred by Hollywood melodrama. It just does not compare with Topol’s haunting performance in The House on Garibaldi Street in which he infuses the role of Peter Malkin with such hatred for the Nazis that it nearly drives his character mad.
Look for French actress Mélanie Laurent (Inglorious Basterds) as a female Mossad agent in love with Peter Malkin.
February 19th, 2019 at 8:26 pm
My problem with this was more historical than dramatic, they left out some important players in the real capture, and oddly it doesn’t really go to making the story more dramatic or suspenseful to have done so.
And frankly, in a duel of personalities and actors Isaac just didn’t come up to the level of Kingsley which weakened the central drama of the cat and mouse between the agent and the Eichmann.
I just thought if they were going to retell this they should have worked harder at it. It isn’t a bad or dull film, it just isn’t particularly special or more accurate than the other versions, and offers no real insights into either Eichmann or his captors.
I found it a letdown and a bit of a disappointment all things considered, almost half-hearted as if no one had a passion to tell the story.
February 20th, 2019 at 12:03 am
I’ve not seen this one, but I did watch THE HOUSE ON GARIBALDI STREET a while ago. You always have to accept that some facts will be altered for dramatic effect, but I was disappointed in how Eichmann was portrayed — mostly as a bewildered inoffensive nebbish, one very difficult to imagine as a Mastermind of Evil.
This one sounded much more promising in that regard, but it seems as though they reversed the dynamics too far the other way.
February 20th, 2019 at 7:36 pm
Evil is often banal in real life, but there was a good record of Eichmann’s wartime behavior and some sense that even though his life was on the line he enjoyed the notoriety and the infamy once he was caught even the glass box he was tried in to protect him during court proceedings.
All three films about his capture have leaned too far toward the nebbish aspect with too few glimpses of the self possessed monster trying to claim he was just following orders. I hoped Kingsley would find a way to show the monster under the surface more, but he doesn’t really. It is almost as if everyone telling this story is so struck with it’s import that they forget it also needs to be a dramatic and cathartic experience for the viewer. In all three films I found myself wishing for Robert Shaw in THE MAN IN THE GLASS BOOTH.