The Eichmann Show (2015)

Dramatisation of the team hoping to televise the trial of Adolf Eichmann, an infamous Nazi responsible for the deaths of millions of Jews. It focuses on Leo Hurwitz, a documentary film-maker and Milton Fruchtman, a producer.

Director:

Paul Andrew Williams

Writer:

Simon Block

Stars:

Martin Freeman, Anthony LaPaglia, Rebecca Front

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Martin Freeman	...	Milton Fruchtman
Anthony LaPaglia	...	Leo Hurwitz
Rebecca Front	...	Mrs. Landau
Andy Nyman	...	David Landor
Nicholas Woodeson	...	Yaakov Jonilowicz
Ben Addis	...	Ron Huntsman
Caroline Bartleet	...	Judy Gold
Ed Birch	...	Millek Knebel
Dylan Edwards	...	Roy Sedwell
Nathaniel Gleed	...	Tommy Hurwitz
Ben Lloyd-Hughes	...	Alan Rosenthal
Vaidotas Martinaitis	...	Adolf Eichmann
Zora Bishop	...	Eva Fruchtman
Nell Mooney	...	Female Journalist
Solomon Mousley	...	Perry Rudolph

Storyline

In 1961 former Nazi Adolf Eichmann is captured by Jewish agents and put on trial. American television producer Milton Fruchtman fervently believes that the trial with its witness accounts of Nazi atrocities should be televised to show the world the evils of the Holocaust and to combat any resurgence of Nazism and joins forces with black-listed director Leo Hurwitz. Despite death threats, reluctance to cooperate from several networks and even resistance from the Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion, who fears a 'show trial', the pair persist and move their cameras into the court-room. Edited daily and shown in some three dozen countries the 'Eichmann Show' becomes the first ever global television documentary.

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Plot Keywords:

trial | adolf eichmann | court room | genocide | israel | 

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Taglines:

The Nazi Trial of the Century

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Genres:

Drama | History

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Details

Official Sites:

BBC Listing Official site [Japan]

Country:

UK Lithuania

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 January 2015 (UK)

Also Known As:

The Eichmann Show

Filming Locations:

Lithuania

Company Credits

Production Co:

Feelgood Fiction, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Vistaar Religare Film Fund

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16:9 HD

Did You Know?

Trivia

Unites two actors who played dangerous henchmen from John Grisham's film adaptations: Anthony LaPaglia in The Client (1994) and Nicholas Woodeson in The Pelican Brief (1993).

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Goofs

When Milton Fruchtman tells Leo Hurwitz that the judges have given permission for them to film the trial, Fruchtman wrongly quotes Adolf Eichmann's Nazi Party Membership Number as 889895, when in fact it is 899895.

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Quotes

Leo Hurwitz: I don't believe in monsters. But I do believe that men are responsible for monstrous deeds.

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Connections

Features Eichmann Trial (1961)

User Reviews

Behind story of a historical event's TV documentation.

This BBC film was based on the actual event that took place in the early 60s, Jerusalem. About televising the trial from a courtroom, which was the first ever documentary series to broadcast. One of a top Nazi officer, Adolf Eichmann, who fled during the end of world war two and settled down in the South America, but brought back with the help of Mossad to Israel to face the war crime charges. The movie won't demonstrate all those in the picture, but it begins with the television production house preparing to shoot the important television event in the history. So the show begins, but a boring first half and the next half is where all the interesting stuffs happen.

In my prediction this movie with the powerful contents would have easily beaten the 'The Imitation Game', if it was produced grandly and commercialised a bit of narration for the worldwide market. The real video clips of the trial were merged into the movie and that gave a strong effect which allows to realise how those actual occurrences has taken place. Actually, there are some uncensored cuts, which were shocking and disturbing. So pretty much like a semi-documentary, but due to the majority of movie clips that shot with actors and in the sets, it feels like a TV movie as it should be.

"While he watches the footage, we'll be watching him. Only then will we see the real Eichmann."

The performances were ordinary, because the screenplay preferred the main event to display, not the characters and their lifestyle. That makes it is not a biographical picture, though both the lead men were pretty impressive. We had seen many world war 2 and related to it movies, but this one was a different. Because of the story was set 15 years after the end of war. Simple movie, no twists, no developments, but reveals the facts from a different dimension. Because of this show, people around the world and filmmakers understood the cruelty of the Nazi prison camp. The movies those came afterwards about this war were inspired by the events that discussed in the courtroom. So if you are planning for this, expect it to be as what the title says, not a bit more or less.

8/10