By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.6
Director: Margarethe von Trotta
Starring: Axel Milberg | Barbara Sukowa | Janet McTeer | Julia Jentsch | Michael Degen | Ulrich Noethen
Country: france, germany, luxembourg
Year: 2013
Running time: 113
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1674773/combined
Bruce says: “In 2009 Margarethe von Trotta and Barbara Sukowa collaborated on VISION, the story of Hildegard von Bingen, the 12th century nun who was a musician, a poet, a scientist, and a practitioner of herbal medicine. Their extraordinary collaboration now spans four decades beginning with MARIANNE AND JULIANNE (1981) that was followed by ROSA LUXEMBOURG (1986).
“Hannah Arendt was a brilliant academic associated with many important American institutions such as Yale, the University of Chicago, Wesleyan, Berkeley, Stanford, Princeton and Northwestern. She considered herself a political theorist rather than a philosopher, a label she did not appreciate.
“HANNAH ARENDT focuses on a specific time in her life, during which she travels to Israel to cover the Adolf Eichmann trial for ‘The New Yorker.’ As a Jew who had barely escaped the holocaust, it is generally assumed that Arendt would jump on the bandwagon, filled with those who condemned Eichmann as pure evil. As she watches the trial Arendt has a different reaction. Noting that Eichmann was an ordinary man following orders, she coins the phrase ‘the banality of evil,’ a phrase that changes the way people viewed the horrors of the Holocaust. In her mind the spectacle of the trial is more about history than the trial of a single man.
“Arendt’s series of ‘New Yorker’ articles has repercussions on both her personal and professional life. Many friends refuse to associate with Arendt after her article is published. She develops many enemies. But even close friends such as novelist Mary McCarthy (Janet McTeer) are skeptical. ‘How can you defend him?’ she asks Arendt. ‘The men in your novels aren’t perfect,’ Arendt hurls back. The majority of her interchanges were not so humorous. Ben Shawn, editor of ‘The New Yorker’ tells Arendt that the response to her articles ‘worries us.’ ‘You say us, not me,’ Arendt delicately observes. He then explains that the magazine has received 100 telephone calls per page. When asked to resign her position at Columbia, Arendt flatly refuses. Her relationship with her husband becomes more strained.
“Barbara Sukowa delves into the inner self of her chain-smoking, unyielding character with her usual dedication. Arendt is a role more meaty than flashy. There are some wildly dramatic moments but the importance of the film lies in the presentation of Arendt’s ideas. Hers was a rich mind, not totally in synch with her times. What is important to know is that Arendt did change the way people think. HANNAH ARENDT helps us understand how that came about. 4.5 cats
“(HANNAH ARENDT screened at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.)”
Thom says: “Attended with Bruce, Scott, and Beth. Beth asked a really intriguing question about the use of live footage of Adolph Eichmann during the trial scenes, thus accenting the terrifying quote from Arendt about the ‘banality of evil’. Even more exciting for me & I’d imagine Bruce as well, quite by accident when leaving the crowded auditorium Bruce & I discovered ourselves right along side of von Trotta & Sukowa. We both effused accolades upon the both of them & when I told Barbara that I’d loved her since BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ she laughed & said that ‘aged me too much’ with out a trace of irony.
“von Trotta, responsible for such gems as THE LOST HONOR OF KATHARINA BLUM, MARIANNE & JULIANE, ROSA LUXEMBURG, & VISION wins the award for best intellectual film of the festival. Arendt (so arrestingly played by Sukowa, one of the finest film actresses we have) was a German Jewish philosopher and professor of much renown. She was chosen by the New Yorker to report on the Adolph Eichmann trial taking place in Israel. She raises a terrible furor over her portrayal of men
like Eichmann only following orders and that the Jewish leaders themselves had some complicity in the horror. Needless to say, she had to go to great lengths to gain back her credibility and continue working. 5 cats
“Director von Trotta & star Sukowa available for Q&A”
Kyle says: “‘It was as though in those last minutes he (Adolf Eichmann) was summing up the lessons that this long course in human wickedness had taught us — the lesson of the fearsome, word-and-thought-defying banality of evil.’ Those famous final words that forever connect German Jewish political philosopher and writer Hannah Arendt to the Holocaust are much more potent in the complete 1963 sentence from which they are usually excerpted. That sentence follows her description of the execution by hanging of Eichmann in Ramla, Israel, on May 31,1962. Director Margarethe von Trotta has fashioned a riveting film about writing, focusing on the experiences of Arendt (Barbara Sukowa) during and after the trial of Eichmann for his management of deportation of Eastern European Jews in the Final Solution; she researches and writes a series of articles for ‘The New Yorker’ which becomes her book titled Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. That her writing is every bit as controversial fifty years later can be confirmed by a look at Wikipedia’s entry ‘Banality of evil’ which surrealistically contains this header: ‘An editor has expressed a concern that this section lends undue weight to certain ideas relative to the article as a whole.’ Clicking on ‘undue weight’ takes one to an entry laughably reminiscent of Fox News, called ‘Neutral point of view.’ Which inevitably leads to such nonsense as evolution and creationism being entitled to ‘equal validity.’
“But I digress. Hannah Arendt (Sukowa) is seen in relative darkness on her NYC couch smoking a cigarette both at the beginning and ending of the film. In fact, she devotes a considerable amount of screen time to smoking cigarettes, even during lectures. Much of the NYC footage is murky, such as scenes in the Riverside Drive apartment she shares with her husband, even a farewell party in her honor given by friends, most of whom are not at all certain that her journey to Jerusalem is a good idea. This murkiness contrasts dramatically with almost blinding sunshine of the Israeli countryside upon Arendt’s first visit to the Eichmann trial in 1961. Director von Trotta thus ensures that our eyes are wide open for the almost electric-shock switch to black-and-white newsreel footage as we first view Eichmann in his glass-enclosed booth. The contrast between the pathetic but defiant Eichmann with his pinched, furtive, tight-lipped mien revealing no emotion, and the showy grandstanding of grandly robed prosecutor, Israeli Attorney General Gideon Hausner, is so jarring that we agree with Arendt’s sarcastic observation about his parading around like he is competing with Eichmann for a part in a play. But then an amazing progression of shots kicks in, alternating between the real Eichmann blandly stating that orders had to be obeyed, and the fictional Arendt comprehending almost immediately that ‘he’s a nobody.’ Eichmann declares that the charges are impossible to substantiate, and Arendt reports in a long-distance telephone call that the testimony of Holocaust survivors has ‘nothing to do with Eichmann.’ He swears that he never harmed a Jew personally, as she wrestles with growing horror at the idea that human beings can be made to seem superfluous.
“Back in New York, Arendt must explain to her students ‘What’s new about Eichmann is that there were so many of him.’ Both director and actress make the audience feel acutely the soul-wrenching conflicts this writer was forced to confront. There is a classic scene of a “New Yorker” editorial meeting in which excerpts from Arendt’s series of articles raise the explosive issue of complicity of some Jewish leaders in the deportation and extermination of huge numbers of European Jews — which becomes for many the sole issue. This is followed with a spirited defense by fellow writer and personal friend Mary McCarthy, leaping to advocacy for Arendt against attacks by smugly self-important male academic intellectuals. Arendt alienates even some of her close friends by asking, ‘Why should I love the Jews? I only love my friends.’ A note is delivered to Arendt from ‘the nice old man on the 10th floor’ written in large capital letters: ‘DAMN YOU TO HELL, YOU NAZI WHORE.’
“Arendt becomes increasingly isolated maintaining that Eichmann ‘had no intentions; he simply obeyed orders.’ The film confronts the audience with a question about the terrible grey area between resistance and cooperation. Arendt is ultimately unable to ‘reconcile the shocking mediocrity of the man’ with his unspeakable deeds, illuminating the probable loneliness of such pure intellectual rigor. Three words come to mind to characterize the work of both director von Trotta and actress Sukowa: uncompromising, unsentimental, clear-headed. Perhaps Polonius’ advice to Hamlet should be included — ‘This above all: to thine own self be true.’ The final words of the screenplay state that Hannah Arendt returned over and over throughout her writings during the rest of her life to a ceaseless examination of the nature of evil. Whether or not Adolf Eichmann was an insignificant “pencil-pusher” he became a symbol and hence a scapegoat for millions of victims of the most shameful episode in recorded history. As the second decade of the twenty-first century passes by, we realize that virtually all the evil-doers of that time are now dead, and that Hannah Arendt’s bearing witness to that trial is one of the pivotal events in the history of the Holocaust.
“Actress Barbara Sukowa is a major collaborator of director Margarethe von Trotta, for whom she has played Marxist philosopher and revolutionary ROSA LUXEMBURG (1986), and medieval composer and religious visionary Saint Hildegard von Bingen in VISION (2009). She also appeared in German television mini-series masterpiece BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ (1980) and the film LOLA (1981), both for director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Nicolas Woodeson gives a wry performance as ‘The New Yorker’ editor William Shawn, and Klaus Pohl plays German philosopher, Nazi sympathizer and Arendt mentor Martin Heidegger in ambiguous flashbacks. Fans of exquisitely modulated acting are advised not to miss Janet McTeer’s performance as Mary McCarthy — a turn both piquant and delicious. Which makes it sound like a tasty dish. Which it is. 5 cats
“Thursday, May 30, 2013, Film Forum, New York.”
Chris says: “Re-teaming with VISION director Margarethe von Trotta, Barbara Sukowa gives an immense yet intricate performance as German-Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt. Focusing on her controversial series of articles for The New Yorker regarding the trial of ex-Nazi Adolf Eichmann in 1961, the film both examines Arendt’s reasoning behind her theory of ‘The Banality of Evil’ and the widespread negative public reaction to the article, with many accusing her of defending Eichmann’s actions. This incident, along with flashbacks to Arendt’s younger self and her involvement with former mentor Martin Heidegger is how the film defines her, although her close relationships with husband Heinrich Blücher (Klaus Pohl) and colleague Mary McCarthy (a deliciously tart Janet McTeer) considerably fleshes out the context von Trotta places her within. Still, without Sukowa quietly commanding every scene she’s in, the film would be merely competent—thanks to her presence, we come to see Hannah as a prickly, complex yet still quite sympathetic heroine. 4 cats”