Operation Finale
Dustin Chase
There are endless stories from survivors and the monsters that carried out the Holocaust. For decades Hollywood has produced some of its most acclaimed films around this World War II horror. Every year it seems a handful of new mainstream, independent and foreign films shine a light on a different aspect of the tragic story. Operation Finale is one of the latest, focusing on Adolph Eichmann, the “architect of the Final Solution.” He, unlike Goering, Himmler and other high-ranking Nazi officials escaped capture for decades. Director Chris Weitz has a mixed track record with failures like The Golden Compass, Twilight: New Moon and Oscar-nominated successes like About a Boy and A Better Life. Operation Finale falls somewhere in between (we’ve seen all this before).
Peter Malkin (Isaac) and a special group of Israeli forces have discovered that war criminal Adolph Eichmann (Kingsley) is hiding in plain sight in a town outside Buenos Aries, Argentina in 1960. They formulate a plan of extraction to bring him to Israel for trial. It would be the first Nazi put on trial in the Jewish State for the atrocities of the Holocaust and, the Prime Minister believes, a step towards national healing. Instead of settling into a secluded life, Eichmann, living under an assumed name works as a factory foreman and on weekends lectures to local Nazi sympathizers. “I want my story to be told,” he claims. Once apprehended the task force runs into problems extraditing Eichmann, holding him for over a week at a safe house.
If you’ve missed or forgotten all the films Operation Finale borrows from, you might have quite a different experience.
In 2017 Oscar winner Ben Kingsley, who has played many villains in his long career, starred in a small film called An Ordinary Man. He played a war criminal in hiding. That film was far more intricate and compelling than Operation Finale which too often borrows from similar films, including casting, plot and unfortunately even its fictional liberties. In a scene near the end, Operation Finale nearly carbon copies the ending of best picture winning film Argo. If you are going to add fictional scenes for suspense to a true story, at least don’t borrow so heavily from a film like Argo that virtually everyone has seen. Of course, if you’ve missed or forgotten all the films Operation Finale borrows from, you might have quite a different experience.
Typically, a fan of Oscar-winning composer Alexandre Desplat (Argo, The Shape of Water), his score here, which opens the film is among his worst in years. Isaac, who is also a producer of the film is its strongest element. His convictions are transparent, rarely does it feel like he is performing (except in those family-friendly Star Wars movies). Matthew Orton’s script is basic and often on the nose. It’s a procedural account of events with irregular jovial moments that distract from the narrative. Joe Alwyn who starred in Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk is nearly unrecognizable as Eichmann’s neo-Nazi son. Orton can’t quite figure out how to use the young actor as a sub-villain in the plot.
Final Thought
Operation Finale is not for the well-versed historical cinema viewer, nearly every element is borrowed, copied or left over from a greater film.