Operation Finale

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.

Sometimes it is not just about finding someone, or just catching them. It is about how to handle the whole situation. And with "war criminals" from the past, some may even argue: is it worth the time and money to catch and old man? What will it bring/achieve overall? Then again, shouldn't they still be held accountable? There are many moral questions attached to this, though the fact that you still have right wingers going crazy and trying to blame foreigners (Jews in this particular instance) is abhorrent.

Having said all that, you have a great cast assembled here. Sir Ben Kingsley at the helm but many others "supporting" him. It is a tough subject matter especially because it is true. Maybe some things have been heightened (didn't read up on everything that went down), but overall this is quite draining and seems like a logical account of things. So while it may seem slow at times, the tension is still quite high.

The story is too straightforward and streamlined. Too much of the film is trying to build tension over the success of the mission but the twists and set back all feel too slight and easily overcome. There are more dramatically interesting ways to tell this story and I think trying to fit it into a thriller mode was a mistake. Maybe a courtroom drama would have been a better fit but the plot keeps butting in when the film seems to be going in an interesting direction, i.e. the interplay between Peter and Adolf. The story isn't bad but it could have been so much more.

Fortunately, Kingsley and Isaac turn in some moving understated performances. Kingsley is especially chilling as Adolf and there is weird intertextual irony given his previous role in Schindler's List. Kingsley embodies the banality of evil and it utterly works. Isaac was a good choice to carry the movie.

This film was disappointing. It could have been so much more.

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.

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.