Movie Review: Operation Finale

Operation Finale ** / *****

Directed by: Chris Weitz.

Written by: Matthew Orton.

Starring: Oscar Isaac (Peter Malkin), Ben Kingsley (Adolph Eichmann), Mélanie Laurent (Hanna Elian), Lior Raz (Isser Harel), Nick Kroll (Rafi Eitan), Michael Aronov (Zvi Aharoni), Ohad Knoller (Ephraim Ilani), Greg Hill (Moshe Tabor), Torben Liebrecht (Yaakov Gat), Michael Benjamin Hernandez (Dani Shalom), Joe Alwyn (Klaus Eichmann), Greta Scacchi (Vera Eichmann), Peter Strauss (Lothar Hermann), Haley Lu Richardson (Sylvia Hermann), Pêpê Rapazote (Carlos Fuldner), Rainer Reiners (Fritz Bauer), Simon Russell Beale (David Ben-Gurion).

 

Operation Finale plays like the filmmakers saw Ben Affleck’s Argo, and figured they only thing it was really missing was Nazis. It is a film about how the Israelis discovered Adolph Eichmann living in South America, tracked him down, kidnapped him, and eventually got him back to Israel to stand trial – one of the most infamous trials in history, as Eichmann was the highest ranking Nazi war criminal tried, and because it was immortalized by Hannah Arendt, who used the phrase the banality of evil to describe Eichmann. That’s the part of the story everyone remembers – because that’s the part everyone saw. The operation to get Eichmann back to Israel is less well-known because, like Argo, it was kept secret. Now, it can finally be told. But did it really need to be told at all? I have my doubts.

 

In the film, the Israelis gets a tip that Eichmann is hiding out in Buenos Aires. They need to confirm his identity, before they can do anything. Once they do that, they’ll need to kidnap him, hold him in a safe house, and get him to the airport to fly home. To make everything even more above board, they’ll need to get Eichmann to sign a letter agreeing to come back with them to Israel to stand trial in the first place.

 

The film focuses on the efforts of Peter Malkin (Oscar Isaac) to accomplish all this. Like every other Jew in the movie, he lost people during the Holocaust – in his case, he flashes back to his sister being murdered in cold blood. He is a man of action – the person the Israelis send in when they need something done. This time, he is to get Eichmann, and bring him to the safe house – they have an interrogator there who will work on Eichmann to sign that form. He is to stay out of it. Of course, he doesn’t do that – and he begins talking to Eichmann (Ben Kingsley). The two don’t bond, per se, but they do develop some sort of connection. They are playing cat and mouse, and the film would probably love for you to think of Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter, but that would be giving them too much credit here.

 

Everything about Operation Finale is workmanlike. It isn’t bad really, but it never really rises above the level of a mediocre made-for-tv movie from the 1990s. It has an A-list cast and I can imagine a version featuring the great Isaac and Kingsley, that worked like gangbusters – but that version would need to be more daring, more willing to push the characters, and the audience, into uncomfortable situations, when all this one wants to do is offer bland platitudes. The direction by Chris Weitz is okay, but unremarkable. The screenplay is bland and generic – and fails to really generate much tension. Even at the climax – where a house is being raided, or a plane needs to get clearance to take off, and people “sacrifice” themselves, it’s not much of a sacrifice at all.

 

To be fair, we probably didn’t really need another version of the Eichmann trial either – or more observations like Ardent’s – as both of them have been done before, and probably better than they could be done here. Still, though, sometimes the untold story behind the story we all know is untold for a reason.

Movie Review: A Better Life

A Better Life *** ½  

Directed by: Chris Weitz.

Written by: Eric Eason.

Starring:  Demián Bichir (Carlos Galindo), José Julián (Luis Galindo), Gabriel Chavarria (Ramon),

 Chelsea Rendon (Ruthie Valdez), Carlos Linares (Santiago).Richard Cabral (Marcelo Valdez), Joaquin Cosio (Blasco).

When I hear the constant debate on TV about illegal immigration, I often wonder about whether or not the hardliners – the ones who want to build a giant fence, and defend Arizona’s racial profiling law, understand that there are real people behind all the numbers they spout off. People who come to America and work hard, for little money, doing jobs that most Americans would not do. That these “leeches” and “parasites” are husbands, wives, sons, daughters, etc simply trying to make a better life for themselves. I’m not suggesting that America should simply throw open the gates and let everyone in, but what about some compassion? I doubt the hardliners will watch A Better Life, or dismiss it as propaganda if they do, but I do hope that people do see the film, and watch it with an open mind.

The film stars Demian Bichir, in one of the best performances of the year, as Carlos Galindo. He crossed the border illegally with his wife and sister years before, and had a son, Luis (Jose Julian) in California, thus making his son an American citizen. But now, Luis is 15, his wife is long gone (tired of living on his small income), and Carlos is still an illegal immigrant. He works for another Mexican as a gardener. Every morning, they get into his truck and drive to rich people houses where they mow the lawn, trim trees, do the gardening, etc. His boss wants to move back to Mexico, and is trying to get Carlos to buy his truck, and all the equipment, from him. But Carlos is scared. He got burned by a lawyer who guaranteed him citizenship, only to scam him out of his money. If he were to buy the truck, he still couldn’t get insurance, and getting pulled over for a minor traffic violation could mean deportation. He doesn’t want to risk it – but he is worn down. Reminded of what life will be like if he doesn’t buy the truck – waiting at a bus stop and hoping to be picked by someone who needs manual labor for the day – he relents and buys the truck. And then, the unthinkable happens.

The movie was directed by Chris Weitz, who until know has mainly made larger budget movies. They include The Golden Compass, what I thought was an excellent fantasy film, but no one seemed to agree, so it tanked, and the second Twilight movie, which I thought sucked, but no seemed to agree, so it was a success. Here, he has scaled his production way down, to tell a simple, human story. The obvious inspiration for the film is Vittorio De Sica’s masterpiece Bicycle Thieves, about a father in post WWII Italy, who gets one of the few jobs around because he owns a bike. But when his bike gets stolen, he has to try and track it down himself, or lose his livelihood. He brings his son along on the quest. That is pretty much what happens in A Better Life. And how sad is it, that a story about post WWII Italy can be updated to modern LA, with the only real change being a truck for a bike?

The film provides a nice tour of Los Angeles, but not the LA of big shopping areas, glitz, glamour and Hollywood, but the underbelly of LA – a world where there are a lot of illegal immigrants who keep the city running, although everyone pretends that they do not. Carlos is just one of these nameless faces in the crowd, keeping his head down, doing his work and trying not to get arrested. All he wants is his son to have a better life than he has had. So far, it isn’t working. Luis hardly ever goes to school, and is in danger of falling in with a gang. He sees his father as a loser, probably because he never seems to have any money, although he leaves and comes home from work when it’s dark outside. The movie, which is about a search for a truck, is really about these two getting to know each other. Carlos has done everything he can to raise his son right, but when you have to work so at least 12 hours a day, 7 days a week to make ends meet, it’s hard to be there for your kids. And MTV Cribs and the local gangsters seem so much more exciting than cutting some rich person’s lawn.

A Better Life tells a simple story, but one that works remarkably well. Yes, it is fairly predictable, but that doesn’t diminish its impact. Demian Bichir gives an honest, heartbreaking performance. He has had a long career in Mexico, but the only movie I have seen him in before was Steven Soderberg’s Che, where he played Fidel Castro. It is a an excellent performance – the type that a film like this needs to be as good as it is. A Better Life is a low budget gem.

Movie Review: The Twilight Saga: New Moon

The Twilight Saga: New Moon * ½
Directed By: Chris Weitz.
Written By: Melissa Rosenberg based on the novel by Stephanie Meyer.
Starring: Kristen Stewart (Bella Swan), Robert Pattinson (Edward Cullen), Taylor Lautner (Jacob Black), Billy Burke (Charlie Swan), Ashley Greene (Alice Cullen), Jackson Rathbone (Jasper Whitlock), Anna Kendrick (Jessica), Michael Welch (Mike), Michael Sheen (Aro), Jamie Campbell Bower (Caius), Christopher Heyerdahl (Marcus), Peter Facinelli (Dr. Carlisle Cullen), Rachelle Lefevre (Victoria), Elizabeth Reaser (Esme Cullen), Kellan Lutz (Emmett Cullen), Nikki Reed (Rosalie Hale), Chaske Spencer (Sam Uley), Gil Birmingham (Billy Black), Graham Greene (Harry Clearwater), Kiowa Gordon (Embry Call), Tyson Houseman (Quil Ateara), Edi Gathegi (Laurent), Dakota Fanning (Jane).

Being a teenager is hard. It is a time of personal upheaval, confusion and raging hormones as kids try to become adults too quickly, and end up making mistakes. This is why teenagers are at the heart of many movies, TV shows and books. Their lives, even when mundane, are just so much more dramatic than adults lives are. Every little thing that happens to them is the BIGGEST THING EVER to them – at least for that moment. This is why the Twilight series – both in book form where I read all four novels, for reasons I do not understand myself – and in the movies is so frustrating to me. Never have I seen a group of teenagers so bloody lifeless and morose. That the series has legions of teenage fans is somewhat curious to me – does anyone actually relate to these characters? They certainly do not reflect my life as a teenager in any way.

But I digress. The second movie in the Twilight series, New Moon, is worse than the first film, even if they did drastically improve on the special effects of the first film. Director Chris Weitz, coming off the vastly superior The Golden Compass, knows how to use CGI very well in his movies, and in particular here he gives us some great work – particularly in the scenes of the werewolf’s transformations.

But the story is still so cheesy and lame, isn’t it? In this one, our teenage heroine Bella (Kristen Stewart, once again valiantly struggling in a movie so far beneath her obvious talent level it’s frustrating) and her vampire love Edward (Robert Pattinson, once again mistaking staring off into space and speaking slowly for being dramatic) are forced apart by Edward’s conscience. He doesn’t want to see Bella get hurt, so he decides to leaves Forks, and her, forever. She is torn up by his abandonment, and in what may be the films worst scene, spends months in her room simply staring out the window. Then she discovers that is she does something stupid or self destructive, she can bring Edward back – not really, but she sees him in her mind telling her not to do it. This leads her to do more and more stupid things. She rescues a couple of motorcycles for the dump, and takes them to her old friend Jacob (Taylor Lautner), on the Native Reservation, because he is a good mechanic. The two of them become close over the months, and although Bella knows that Jacob is in love with her, she doesn’t give in. She is in love with Edward, and always will be. But then Jacob pulls away for reasons she doesn’t understand. We of course, figure out long before she does, that he has become a werewolf. But much like the Cullens, Jacob’s werewolf pack are not really “monsters”, but kind and benevolent werewolves. They are just there to protect their people, and the people from Forks, for the vampire horde descending on them. Much like Sunnydale, the city in which Buffy the Vampire Slayer takes place, Forks seems to be a magnet for monsters.

For a series that contains vampires, and now werewolves, Twilight is rather bloodless. Bella is seen to be in constant danger, and yet nothing ever really happens to her. She wanders around depressed, is put under threat for a few moments, but really, she is not in danger. There are too many monsters in love with her for that to happen.

I suppose that a series like Twilight could work, if the writing was better. The screenwriter is Melissa Rosenberg, who does great work season after season on Dexter, but here her hands are tied by the terribly written novels by Stephanie Meyer. Because teenage fans have eaten up the novels in record numbers, they don’t really change anything for the movie versions. The same lame dialogue has to be delivered, the same false dramatic episodes, the same lame characters. Because of their success, the movies have drawn some big name talent to star in the movies – not only Stewart, who will recover and return to doing great work after this series is over I hope, but now Dakota Fanning and Michael Sheen as two members of the “Volturi”, vampire royalty who make the rules that all vampires must live by. They try hard to be dramatic and evil, but they cannot pull it off.

I am under no delusions that anything I write here will have the slightest bit of impact. The movie just made $141 million in its opening weekend, which is the highest three day total of the year. Sad really that teenagers are flocking to this series, but whatever. They like what they like. When they grow up a little bit though, I wonder if they’ll look back at their Twilight love with nostalgia or embarrassment.