Film Review - Hannah Arendt

Barbara Sukowa (wearing pearls) in Hannah Arendt

German-Jewish philosopher and political theorist, Hannah Arendt's coverage of the 1961 trial of former SS Lieutenant-Colonel Adolph Eichmann in Israel for The New Yorker is the subject of this insightful film by Margarethe von Trotta. Eichmann, one of the key Nazi war criminals still at large after the end of WWII had been responsible for the transportation of people, mainly Jews, to the concentration camps. Captured by Mossad in Argentina he had been spirited away to stand trial in Israel to which Arendt travelled from the United States in order to see first hand the face of the man who played a pivotal role in the camp system. It was from this trial and her writings concerning Eichmann that she introduced the famous concept of 'the banality of evil'. Arendt's work become controversial due to her analysis of Eichmann's detachment during his wartime role and her direct reference to the role of Jewish councils (Judenrat) during the War.

Extensive usage of original black and white footage from the actual trial of Adolph Eichmann is used in the film which adds historical validity and context. Barbara Sukowa expertly portrays Arendt's uncompromising commitment to shed insight into the nature of Eichmann and those like him who carried out crimes against humanity in one of the darkest chapters of the 20th Century. Hannah Arendt has mixed dialogue of both German and English with the German scenes subtitled.