Operation Finale, a film that chronicles the 1961 top-secret raid to capture the notorious Adolf Eichmann, the highest-ranking living Nazi official from World War II, is probably the best movie of 2018 that you’ll never hear about. Under-publicized and just a little north of neutral on Rotten Tomatoes’ aggregate film rating site, Operation Finale was released during a period (late August) when quieter movies don’t do so well at the box office. Plus, this movie doesn’t have an A-list headliner. While it is true that Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina, A Most Violent Year), who, in 2018, is one of our finest working actors, is not quite a household name. At least not yet. Sure, he plays the recognizable Poe Dameron in the latest Star Wars trilogy (episodes VII, VIII, IX), but a respectable actor must be more than that. And Isaac is in the actor circles but isn’t well-known enough to the public. And while he stars opposite a widely respectable actor in Ben Kingsley (House of Sand and Fog, Gandhi), his elder counterpart’s best years are far behind him. At 74, who knows how much longer his career will continue? If this is Kingsley’s final role, it’s a good one.

The story behind Operation Finale is a widely well-known one that, I admit, I knew nothing about. The story is about the 1960 capture of Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann (Kingsley) by Israeli spies led by Peter Malkin (Isaac), who tracked him to where he was living in Argentina. Operation Finale is not the first movie to revolve around this story. It’s an important one and one that has been told on multiple occasions because Eichmann was the highest German official to go to trial and be held accountable for crimes committed during the Holocaust. It offered a bit of an end closing for the heinous acts committed during the war.

Nicknamed by many as “The Architect of the Holocaust,” Eichmann was a notable figure because he masterminded the logistics involved in transporting millions of Jews to the ghettos and extermination camps during World War II. This became especially true at the Nuremberg trials when many high-ranking  Schutzstaffel officers divulged damning evidence about Eichmann. As his exact role in the Holocaust became more widely known, his status as a fugitive grew. With many other high-ranking officials either killed in battle or (as Adolph Hitler did) taking their own lives, there became a massive manhunt to find Eichmann, so much so that this was a seek and extract mission much more so than it was a seek and extract (if possible) or kill mission and to bring the man before an Israel court to stand trial in Israel courtroom.

Determined to sneak him out of Argentina to stand trial in Israel, Malkin and Eichmann engage in an intense, gripping cat-and-mouse game. Malkin is frantic in his pursuit of Eichmann after an encounter in the film’s early minutes netted him the wrong man, something that severely haunts him. And this is not the only trauma that dens the lens of Malkin. Several incidents in his past, which play out via flashbacks, undoubtedly influence him and how he chooses to live his life. Isaac plays the character of a man influenced by past decisions that have gone wrong and one who is meticulous enough not to let things happen again. Kingsley plays Eichmann as a man who thinks he has successfully escaped the atrocities he committed and is safe in his life anew. Kingsley makes Eichmann appear compassionate sometimes, even when you know his crimes are unforgivable.

The movie plays a little too much like Argo, and this would have been okay had it been what happened. While effective overall, Operation Finale plays up the drama in a few spots. While this was indeed a dangerous mission, the number of escapes by the skin of the teeth was exaggerated. Nonetheless, it is completely engrossing and will have you invested from beginning to end. The story is excellent. The acting is superb. The pacing slowly builds up the tension. You know things will end well, but that doesn’t deter from the storytelling.

I recommend this movie. It’s one of my favorites of the year. It’s not necessarily an enthralling and entertaining film in the way that A Star is Born or Bohemian Rhapsody is. Operation Finale could stir the emotions a bit, but not in the way a movie like Vice does. It’s an engaging historical drama that was conscientious in portraying a story that deserved a big screen showing.

Plot 9/10
Character Development 9/10
Character Chemistry 8/10
Acting 8/10
Screenplay 8/10
Directing  8/10
Cinematography 8/10
Sound 9/10
Hook and Reel 9/10
Universal Relevance 10/10
86%

B

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• Defiance
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