The Man Who Captured Eichman Review

In 1960, the Israeli Secret Service learns that former SS-Lietuenant Colonel Adolf Eichmann, who was one of the key figures in the Jewish holocaust of World War II, is living under the assumed name Ricardo Clement in Argentina. The film thus explores the Isreali effort to capture Eichmann, as seen from the perspective of the leading agent of the project, as well as giving focus to Eichmann's own explanations as to the crimes he commited

by Ian Nathan |
Published on
Release Date:

01 Jan 1996

Running Time:

96 minutes

Certificate:

PG

Original Title:

Man Who Captured Eichman, The

In the opening scene, cows are herded onto a cattle car, and the train begins its trip; in the next scene, former Nazi officer Adolf Eichmann and his young son watch from a window of their Buenos Aires home as the train passes. Thus the underlying theme of the movie is revealed: the Jewish Holocaust setting up what looks to be a visually powerful film.

Robert Duvall stars as the notorious Nazi Adolf Eichmann, discovered in Argentina in the early 60s by Mossad agents. Sadly, the film chooses to be a dry talky with Arliss Howard's troubled agent taxing the captive demon on his absence of morality. His answers ("It was the law!") have been well documented and, as absorbing as this drama certainly is, it adds nothing new to the debate.

Good work from Duvall and Graham but nothing we didn't know already.
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