By no means does the straying away from being 100% factual makes “Operation Finale” a non-interesting film. In fact, I found myself captivated, interested in the overall execution as we do know that many events that transpired in reality are featured in the final cut of the film and seeing how actors Oscar Isaac and Ben Kingsley are able to work off each other, both did a magnificent job and made the film much more exciting! Overall, “Operation Finale” is a good film worth watching!
Image courtesy of © 2018 Universal Home Entertainment. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: Operation Finale
YEAR OF FILM: 2018
DURATION: 122 Minutes
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, 1:85:1 Aspect Ratio, English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, Digital DSP Dolby Digital 2.0, English Subtitles: English SDH, Espanol, Francais
COMPANY: Universal
RATED: PG-13
RELEASE DATE: December 4, 2018
Directed by Chris Weitz
Written by Matthew Orton
Producer: Fred Berger, Oscar Isaac, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Jason Spire
Associate Producer: Thomas Daley
Executive Producer: Matt Charman, Ron Schmidt
Associate Producer: Julie Lawrence, Manu Chopra
Music by Alexandre Desplat
Cinematography by Javier Aguirresarobe
Edited by Pamela Martin
Casting by Avy Kaufman
Production Design by David Brisbin
Art Direction by Marcela Bazzano, Kendelle Elliott, Rick Willoughby
Set Decoration by Florencia Martin
Costume Design by J Connie Balduzzi
Starring:
Oscar Isaac as Peter Malkin
Ben Kingsley as Adolph Eichmann
Melanie Laurent as Hanna Elian
Lior Raz as Isser Harel
Nick Kroll as Rafi Eitan
Michael Aronov as Zvi Aharoni
Ohad Knoller as Ephraim Ilani
Greg Hill as Moshe Tabor
Torben Librecht as Yaakov Gat
Michael Benjamin Hernandez as Dani Shalom
Joe Alwyn as Klaus Eichmann
Greta Scacchi as Vera Eichmann
Peter Strauss as Lothar Hermann
Haley Lu Richardson as Sulvia Hermann
Pepe Rapazote as Carlos Fudner
Rainer Reiners as Fritz Bauer
Simon Russell Beale as David Ben-Gurion
The director of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Miss Congeniality serves up a delicious new comedy topped with passion, playfulness, and pepperoni. Former childhood pals Leo and Nikki are attracted to each other as adults—but will their feuding parents’ rival pizzerias put a chill on their sizzling romance?
Many Nazi officers fled to Argentina, Chile and Brazil, after the defeat of Germany by the Allied Force during World War II.
It was known that Argentina was home to thousands of German immigrants and Argentine President Juan Peron, who had fascist ideologies, assisted the Nazi Germans.
One of the people which Argentina hid was the “world’s most wanted Nazi”, Adolph Eichmann, the architect of Hitler’s “Final Solution” to exterminate the Jews form Europe.
Eichmann was a notorious SS lieutenant colonel which masterminded the holocaust which resulted in the murder of 6 million people.
Eichmann would live in Buenos Aires under the alias Ricardo Klement, where he lived with his wife and four children while working at a Mercedes-Benz automotive plant.
But the story of how members of the Mossad (national intelligence agency of Israel) were able to to go Argentina and managed to escape the country with Eichmann was no doubt a harrowing story but it’s the subject of the film “Operation Finale” directed by Chris Weitz (“About a boy”, “The Golden Compass”, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”) and written by Matthew Orton.
The film would star Oscar Isaac (“Star Wars: Episode VII and VIII”, “Ex Machina”, “Inside Llewyn Davis”), Ben Kingsley (“Ghandi”, “Schindler’s List”, “Iron Man 3”), Melanie Laurent (“Inglorious Basterds”, “Now You See Me”, “Breathe”), Lior Raz (“The Kindergarten Teacher”, “Fauda”), Nick Kroll (“Sing”, “Adult Beginners”), Michael Aranov (“The Americans”, “The Drop”), Ohad Knoller (“Yossi & Jagger”, “Munich”), Joe Alwyn (“The Favourite”, “Billy Lynn’s Longtime Halftime Walk”), Haley Lu Richardson (“The Last Survivors”, “Columbus”, “Split”) and many more.
And now the film is available on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of Universal Pictures.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Operation Finale” comes with:
- Inside the Operation – (6:24) Interviews with the actors.
- Feature Commentary with Director Chris Weitz
EXTRAS:
“Operation Finale” Comes with a Digital Copy code and slipcover.
“Operation Finale” is a film that revolves around the Mossad’s harrowing mission of capturing “the most wanted Nazi”, Adolph Eichmann.
The film is inspired by true events, but there are some changes made for the film adaptation.
The film begins with the death of a young woman by the Nazis. The young woman happens to be the older sister of Mossad agent Peter Malkin (portrayed by Oscar Isaac), who has received information that Eichmann is in Argentina (a place which was a haven for former Nazi officers).
Eichmann (portrayed by Ben Kingsley), going by the name of Ricardo Klement and living life working at Mercedes Benz and living with his wife and children. His son Klaus (portrayed by Joe Alwyn) and a Sylvia Hermann (portrayed by Haley Lu Richardson) are dating and because her father is German (they lived in Germany but are secretly Jewish).
When Sylvia invites Klaus to meet her father, Klaus discuss how he is weary of going to Germany because he has heard that Jewish are corrupting Germany and stealing jobs. He tells them that his father is a famous SS officer and now he is living with his uncle. When Sylvia’s father tries to get more information on who her father is, it happens to be Adolph Eichmann.
The Mossad receive information from the Hermanns, who are skeptical that the information came from a blind man and a Jewish daughter who is dating a Nazi sympathizer but the truth is the daughter was never told she was Jewish. While skeptical about the information, because Eichmann is the man behind “The Final Solution”, they decide to build a team to capture Adolph Eichmann and bring him back to Israel.
But it will be the job of Peter Malkin to capture and get the confession out of Adolph Eichmann, Hanna Elian to use her medical knowledge to drug Eichmann and get him out of the country and the team of Mossad agents that they are able to leave the country with Eichmann before the Nazi’s or Argentina officials get to them.
The story is no doubt harrowing and I was quite intrigued by the film of how they captured Eichmann, but like many films based on true events, to see how much was changed for the film version.
And while many parts of the film’s storyline stayed true to the facts, there were some differences. For one, Hanna Elian was a a female love interest for Peter Malkin’s character, that part was invented mainly for emotional support.
The Mossad’s willingness to listen to the Hermann’s was also a bit farfetched, from what I read from media who learned that the Mossad were not willing, as they were busy with other products and they were not actively hunting Nazi’s in other countries. It was until another informant came with information that the Hermann’s were telling the truth, was when the Mossad decided to pursue Eichmann. And it would take even longer for the Hermann’s to fight against Israel of how they put themselves in danger in trying to get the information that led to Eichmann’s capture. If anything, the Hermann’s on the film were used primarily to show how far Klaus Eichmann was as a Nazi sympathizer which played out in media even after the execution of Adolph Eichmann.
And as for the harrowing story of being pursued and escaping Argentina, it appears the actual plan went very well with no problems. A lot featured in the film was no doubt to create tension and incorporate action elements into the film.
But for those interested in knowing the true facts of what happened, may want to read this article and this other one.
I wouldn’t be surprised if a film was made about the Hermann’s because as one goes deeper into the story, one would learn more about how much the Hermann’s had suffered. From Lothar Hermann (the father) being detained and tortured by Argentine police of being Josef Mengele for 15 days. How he wrote over two dozen times to the Israel government about Eichmann being in the area. How father and daughter had to be separated because while the Mossad got their man, the Hermann’s were left defenseless and Silvia was sent away to the United States.
Israel paid money to Lothar Hermann in 1975 to sign a paper that he, nor his daughter played any role in ID’ing and providing the location of Eichmann. Lothar and his daughter would eventually be recognized posthumously in 2012 by Israel for the heroic role they both played in the capture of Eichmann.
Nevertheless, many films based on true events know they need to create a film that would attract audiences and keep the story from flowing and captivating their interest while watching a film, so an escape from reality, away from true facts tends to happen in Hollywood quite often.
But by no means does the straying away from being 100% factual makes “Operation Finale” a non-interesting film. In fact, I found myself captivated, interested in the overall execution as we do know that many events that transpired in reality are featured in the final cut of the film and seeing how actors Oscar Isaac and Ben Kingsley are able to work off each other, both did a magnificent job and made the film much more exciting.
Overall, “Operation Finale” is a good film worth watching!
