Operation Finale

BY: Zak Wojnar

Nazis are the ultimate villains, both in real life and on the screen. They renounce their humanity in service of hatred. They murdered untold millions of innocent people, and would have taken over the world if the Allied forces hadn’t defeated them in World War II.

There’s no shortage of media about fighting Nazis, from pulpy action stories like Inglorious Basterds, Wolfenstein, and Where Eagles Dare, to awards-season dramas like Enemy at the Gates, Saving Private Ryan, and, of course, Schindler’s List. There is, however, a different kind of Nazi-hunting movie, those that focus on escaped war criminals living among us and the efforts of secret agents to smoke them out and capture them. Marathon Man and The Boys From Brazil are perhaps the two best-known examples.

The latest to join their ranks is Operation Finale. Unlike the two aforementioned movies, which were entirely fictional (and Boys even has a unique sci-fi twist we wouldn’t dare spoil here), Operation Finale is based on the true story of Mossad agent Peter Malkin and his relentless hunt for Adolf Eichmann, the infamous architect of The Holocaust. The final showdown takes place in Buenos Aires, and the Israeli team sent from Jerusalem to find Eichmann, face intense, often life-threatening situations to capture their man and sneak him out of Argentina, a country well-known for hiding Nazi criminals.

Oscar Isaac stars as Malkin, and Ben Kingsley is Eichmann, and both are earning significant critical praise for their performances. Many scenes involve the two men finding common ground, despite their moral difference. Chris Weitz (About A Boy) directs the fast-paced script which aims for a mix of historical accuracy and high-tension thrills, and the supporting cast includes Joe Alwyn as Eichmann’s son, an Aryan youth wannbe, Mélanie Laurent, Peter Strauss, and, in a rare dramatic role, Nick Kroll.

Thanks to strong early buzz, the film’s release was moved forward several weeks, and now that it’s out, critical reviews have been generally positive, and it seems audiences are receptive to a movie about hunting down one of the most evil men who ever lived. In real life, when Eichmann was captured, he offered no apologies and expressed no remorse for his actions. He believed, because the war was over, he should have been left alone. What he didn’t seem to grasp was that we can’t undo the things we’ve done. There’s no coming back from certain acts, and Eichmann was responsible for arranging the murder of millions of civilians.

Operation Finale is in theaters now.