Hannah Arendt (film)
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Hannah Arendt is a 2012 German-Luxembourgian-French biographical drama film directed by Margarethe von Trotta and starring Barbara Sukowa. The film centers in the life of German-Jewish philosopher and political theorist Hannah Arendt. It is distributed by Zeitgeist Films in the United States, where it opened theatrically on 29 May 2013.
German director von Trotta's film centers on Arendt's response to the 1961 trial of ex-Nazi Adolf Eichmann, which she covered for The New Yorker. Her writing on the trial became controversial for its depiction of both Eichmann and the Jewish councils, and for its introduction of Arendt's now-famous concept of "the banality of evil".
Plot summary
As the film opens Eichmann has been captured in South America. It is revealed that he escaped there via the "rat line" and with forged papers. Arendt, now a professor in New York, volunteers to write about the trial for The New Yorker and is given the assignment. Observing the trial, she is impressed by how ordinary and mediocre Eichmann appears. She had expected someone scary, a monster, and he does not seem to be that. In a cafe conversation in which the Faust story is raised it is mentioned that Eichmann is not in any way a Mephisto (the devil). Returning to New York, Arendt has massive piles of transcripts to go through. Her husband has a brain aneurysm, almost dying, and causing her further delay. She continues to struggle with how Eichmann rationalized his behavior through platitudes about bureaucratic loyalty, and that he was just doing his job. When her material is finally published, it immediately creates enormous controversy, resulting in angry phone calls and a falling out from her old friend, Hans Jonas.
In a night out on the town with her friend, novelist Mary McCarthy, she insists that she is being misunderstood, and her critics who accuse her of "defending" Eichmann have not read her work. McCarthy broaches the subject of Arendt's love relationship many years ago with philosopher Martin Heidegger who had collaborated with the Nazis. Arendt finds herself shunned by many colleagues and former friends. The film closes with a final speech she gives before a group of students, in which she says this trial was about a new type of crime which did not previously exist. A court had to define Eichmann as a man on trial for his deeds. It was not a system or an ideology that was on trial, only a man. But Eichmann was a man who renounced all qualities of personhood, thus showing that great evil is committed by "nobodies" without motives or intentions. This is what she calls "the banality of evil".
The film, which captures Arendt at one of the most pivotal moments of her life and career, also features portrayals of other prominent intellectuals, including philosopher Martin Heidegger, novelist Mary McCarthy, and New Yorker editor William Shawn.
Cast
- Barbara Sukowa as Hannah Arendt
- Friederike Becht as young Hannah
- Janet McTeer as Mary McCarthy
- Klaus Pohl as Martin Heidegger
- Nicholas Woodeson as William Shawn
- Axel Milberg as Heinrich Blücher
- Julia Jentsch as Lotte Köhler
- Ulrich Noethen as Hans Jonas
- Michael Degen as Kurt Blumenfeld (the character portraying a mix of real Kurt Blumenfeld and Gershom Scholem)
- Victoria Trauttsmansdorf as Charlotte Beradt
- Harvey Friedman as Thomas Miller
- Megan Gay as Francis Wells
- Claire Johnson as Mrs. Serkin
- Gilbert Johnston as Professor Kahn
- Tom Leik as Jonathan Schell
