The Devil in Austria

Author(s): James Somerton

Location: Canada

"The Devil in Austria"

Directed By Steven Speilberg
Written By Steven Zallian
Edited By Michael Kahn
Cinematography By Janusz Kaminski
Score By John Williams

Main Cast

Daniel Craig as Adolf Eichmann
Heino Ferch as Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Romola Garai as Veronica Liebl
Ben Kingsley as Gideon Hausner
Guy De Saint Cyr as Heinrich Himmler

Tagline: "The Final Solution Was Only The Beginning"

Synopsis: In 1932 a twenty-six year old man named Adolf Eichmann joined the Nazi Party in Austria. Quickly moved into the booming "Jewish Section" of the Nazi Party, Adolf was put in charge of creating solutions to "The Jewish Question". Deportation to Madagascar was one suggestion but it was quickly thrown out when a war began.

The next idea? Termination.

From the years of 1940 to 1945, Adolf Eichmann was in charge of systematically killing over five million European jews. But with the end of the war he was forced to flee to Argentina. Here, along with his wife and children, he began a new life working odd jobs under a new name Ricardo Klement. Any fear of retribution was forgotten after a few years in hiding. But the hunter had become the hunted.

Survivors of what was now being called The Holocaust were getting their revenge. Nazi hunters from Israel were hunting down all the remaining nazis in the world. After the Nuremberg Trials, they took it upon themselves to find any Nazi who had escaped justice. Adolf Eichmann was one of them. Caught in May of 1960, Eichmann was put on trial in Jerusalem for fifteen different charges.

Encased in a bullet proof booth for the duration of the trial, Eichmann rarely reacted to any of the charges made against him. Simply saying that he only followed orders.

Eichmann was sentenced to death, and executed on May 31, 1962.

What the Press would say:

Steven Speilberg returns to form with this magnificent, and horrifying, leap back into history. We're constantly reminded of the events of the holocaust, but rarely mentioned is the man behind it all. Adolf Eichmann engineered the holocaust; thinking up methods of transportation and extermination. Visiting the death camps far more often than any other of his colleagues, Eichmann is said to have even grown accustomed to the smell of the bodies burning or decomposing. A feeling that we are almost forced into reliving.

Daniel Craig's portrayal of Eichmann is terrifyingly real. He is so calm in the most tense situations that you sometimes wonder if he is even aware of his surroundings. However, we do see him fall into utter panic when he is fleeing Berlin. Only in this scene are we privy to glimpses of the war and his inner paranoia. When visiting the death camps he is so mechanical its scary. We are treated to a different side of Eichmann when with family though. His wife and children bring out a softer side in him, one that doesn't even think of his "great work" that is being performed. Craig really shines in the courtroom scenes though. We're so accustomed to seeing yelling and arguing in a courtroom that when we see the calm and poised Eichmann it is far more shocking than any flamboyant lawyer.

Eichmann's adversary in the courtroom is Gideon Hausner, played by Ben Kingsley. This is a strong willed prosecutor that has taken down many Nazis before Eichmann is beyond confident that Eichmann will be the next to fall. He is just as strong willed as Eichmann but finds it a bit harder to keep his emotions in check. The back and forths between these two characters are so well written. The impassioned Hausner going against the almost emotionless Eichmann gives such a contrast between the two characters.

The final moments of the film are truly emotional. As a viewer, we have grown to loathe Adolf Eichmann and seeing him in his final moments is just as meaningful now as it was then. This is not a hateful film, we do get to see Eichmann as a human; being with and loving his family. After watching the film though it becomes clear that Eichmann was a Nazi first and a family man second. Steven Speilberg gives us his best film since "Schindler's List". This film shares the same raw emotion as "List" but it is an emotion of hate, fear, and anger that drives this film. The fact that this man had a family and was not simply a monster almost made me angrier. Speilberg elicits so much from us with this film that its hard to walk away without feeling changed. Here we get to know the man who truly engineered the holocaust. A terrifying man that was all too normal. This film, however, is not normal. It transcends cinema and tackles the worst war crimes in history. In a time when torture and war crimes permeate our even news broadcast, this shows us what happens when people turn a blind eye.

POSSIBLE NOMINATIONS

Best Picture
Best Director - Steven Speilberg
Best Actor - Daniel Craig
Best Supporting Actor - Ben Kingsley
Best Original Screenplay