Hannah Arendt (DVD REVIEW)
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Hannah
Arendt
DVD
Review by Kam Williams
Biopic
Revisits Life and Times of Infamous Self-Hating Jew
I’m not sure whether there’s a term
for the Jewish equivalent of an Uncle Tom but, if there is, it would probably
be applicable to Hannah Arendt (Barbara Sukowa). Born in Germany in 1906,
Hannah studied philosophy at the University of Marburg, where she became both
the protégé and the mistress of Professor Martin Heiddegger (Klaus Pohl), “the
greatest love of her life,” a Nazi who went to his grave without ever
apologizing for his support of Hitler.
In
response to the rise of anti-Semitism across Deutschland, Arendt fled first to France in search of sanctuary, and later escaped
to the United States
with her mother and husband, Heinrich (Axel Milberg), on illegal visas secured
from an American diplomat. She became a citizen in 1950 and subsequently made
history as the first female lecturer at Princeton University.
However, as Shakespeare suggested in
Julius Caesar, “The evil that men do lives after them: The good is oft interred
in their bones.” Such is apparently the case with women, too, as Hannah appears
fated to be forever remembered for a series of articles she wrote for the New
Yorker magazine while covering the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem.
Like one of those weirdoes who falls
for an inmate, she inexplicably sided with Eichmann, the architect of the
Holocaust, buying hook, line and sinker his “I only followed orders” defense.
Her coverage created a huge uproar as soon as it started hitting the news
stands.
This is understandable because
instead of calling Eichmann a monster, she merely referred to him as “a clown,
a foolish little servant of Hitler who didn’t have a mind of his own.” The
blowback from this “banality of evil” theory was deservedly severe since Hannah
simultaneously had the temerity to indict Jewish leaders for supposedly
cooperating with the Nazis.
A fascinating character study of an
arrogant, cold-hearted, self-hating Jew who had the nerve to blame 6,000,000 of
her own people for their extermination in concentration camps.
Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
In English, French,
Hebrew, Latin and German with subtitles
Running time: 113
minutes
Distributor:
Zeitgeist Films
DVD extras: HD
version of the film; “The Making of” documentary; deleted scenes; theatrical
trailer; bonus Q&A with director Margarethe von Trotta,
screenwriter Pam Katz, actresses Barbara Sukowa and Janet McTeer, and advisor
Jerome Kohn; and 20-page booklet with essays, historical bios, a timeline and
more.
To see a trailer for
Hannah Arendt, visit:
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