News location:

Canberra Today 12°/16° | Saturday, March 30, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Review: ‘Hannah Arendt’ (PG) ****

hannah arendt

IN 1961, publisher William Shawn (Nicholas Woodeson) persuaded Jewish philosopher and political theorist Arendt (Barbara Sukowa) to cover Adolf Eichmann’s trial in Israel for “New Yorker” magazine.

The resulting book, “A Report on the Banality of Evil”, forms the template for writer/director Margarethe von Trotta’s intellectually challenging and rewarding film.

There’s enough substance in the film’s reality to constitute a plot where no conventional plot exists. It summarises Eichmann’s actions as the Nazi bureaucrat responsible for arranging the resources necessary for conducting the Holocaust without ever enquiring what happened next.

Hannah’s conclusions about the behaviour of the Jewish leadership in Europe as the Nazis shipped the Jews to concentration camps incurred the wrath of the Israeli establishment, which delayed the translation of her book into Hebrew until quite recently.

The participation of the leading German post-war intelligentsia, together with leading US liberal thinkers and writers, alleviates the film’s potential to lead to ennui and enhances its humanity. It’s often quite amusing.

And it’s worth wondering, as Hannah must have done, as have I, why so few Jews emulated the heroes of the Warsaw ghetto who resisted the Nazi incursions despite knowing the ultimate futility of their resistance. When violent death becomes inevitable, resistance seems to be the better pathway to it.

At Capitol 6

[Photo via Zeitgeist Films]

Who can be trusted?

In a world of spin and confusion, there’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in Canberra.

If you trust our work online and want to enforce the power of independent voices, I invite you to make a small contribution.

Every dollar of support is invested back into our journalism to help keep citynews.com.au strong and free.

Become a supporter

Thank you,

Ian Meikle, editor

Dougal Macdonald

Dougal Macdonald

Share this

Leave a Reply

Related Posts

Music

Cunio takes top job at NZ School of Music

Immediate past head of the ANU School of Music, Kim Cunio, is to become head of school at Te Kōki, the NZ School of Music, part of the Victoria University of Wellington, reports HELEN MUSA.

Follow us on Instagram @canberracitynews