Hannah Arendt

On a country road in 1960s Argentina, the wanted Nazi Adolf Eichmann is kidnapped by Israeli agents and brought to Jerusalem to stand trial. At the same time, Hannah Arendt lives with her husband in New York. She becomes interested in the Eichmann trial, and The New Yorker sends her to Jerusalem to cover the event. Surprisingly, she sees in Eichmann a man who renounces all moral responsibility for his actions; he was just following orders. Arendt writes and publishes a series of articles that question this, which then backfires on her. Arendt's texts become highly controversial, and she is accused by several people of defending Eichmann.

Barbara Sukowa masterfully portrays Arendt, highlighting both her strong and vulnerable sides. The film is an intimate portrait of Arendt, capturing her ideas and thoughts – thoughts that later developed into the book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil.

Selected for Focus: Fascism
This biographical drama focuses on the years 1961–64, when Arendt covered the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem. It is selected for its brilliant portrayal of both the machinery of the Holocaust and Arendt’s enduring analytical concepts—such as "the banality of evil"—which remain essential references for understanding how totalitarian systems function.