Operation Finale(2018)

Plot Summary

• After World War II ends, Holocaust mastermind Adolf Eichmann (Ben Kingsley) disappears; other Nazi leaders commit suicide and none face trial for their crimes. Years later, Mossad agent Peter Malkin (Oscar Isaac) mistakenly kills the wrong person while hunting a Nazi war criminal in Austria, damaging his reputation.In Buenos Aires, Sylvia Hermann (Haley Lu Richardson) unknowingly begins courting the son of Adolf Eichmann, Klaus (Joe Alwyn). At dinner with her German-Jewish father, Lothar (Peter Strauss), Klaus openly speaks negatively about Jews in Germany and claims his father died in the war. Lothar grows suspicious and passes his name along to Mossad in Tel Aviv. Field agent Zvi Aharoni (Michael Aronov) is dispatched in Buenos Aires to begin reconnaissance, presumably being offered the job over Peter.Klaus takes Sylvia to a meeting, which turns out to be a Nazi revival led by Carlos Fuldner, which Eichmann also attends. Realizing what the meeting is, Sylvia abruptly leaves, ending her relationship with Klaus.Now working in coordination with Mossad, Sylvia meets the Eichmann family at their home under the guise of reconciling with Klaus. An argument between her and Klaus causes Adolf (living under the name Ricardo Clement and claiming to be Klaus's uncle) to intervene; Klaus accidentally refers to him as his father and Eichmann is subsequently photographed. Eichmann notices the operative taking his photo and sketches him.The Mossad team uses the evidence from the meeting to confirm Adolf's identity and plan his capture - they intend to disguise themselves as an air crew and fly him out while sedated. Peter and his ex-girlfriend Hanna, a doctor, are brought on to the team with her role to keep Eichmann sedated during their travels. After capturing Eichmann, he admits his real identity, but his family realize that Sylvia found out as well, and inform the police who prevent their plane from taking off. The agents learn that the Israeli airline, El Al, will not agree to transport Eichmann unless he signs an affidavit stating he will willfully go to Israel; he refuses to sign because he does not believe he will get a fair trial. The team's interrogator is not able to get through to Eichmann, but Peter eventually does by sharing his personal story of the loss of his sister and her three young children to the Holocaust and listening to Eichmann's story about being ignorant of the actual killing of the Jews, his job being focused exclusively on logistics.During the plane's delay and while they await Eichmann's capitulation, Klaus and the police increasingly investigate Eichmann's disappearance, distributing the sketch of the operative to the public. As the Mossad team prepare to leave, Eichmann drops his polite facade and tells Peter a horrific story of watching 5,000 Jews murdered in a pit, cruelly wondering aloud if one of them (a woman who had begged Eichmann to save her infant) was Peter's sister.When one of the Mossad team is captured after using US dollars instead of pesos, she reveals the location of the safe house, and the rest of the team must escape in one car, leaving two operatives behind. The police also confiscate the plane's landing permits, grounding it. Peter hand-delivers a copy of the permit to air traffic control and, seeing the police closing in, orders the plane to take off without him.Later, all the operatives reunite at Eichmann's trial. Text indicates the outcome of his trial and Peter's life.

Storyline

• Director Chris Weitz's historical thriller is based on the story of how a group of Israeli secret agents arrested notorious SS officer Adolf Eichmann - the man who masterminded the "Final Solution" - in Argentina. Oscar Isaac plays the legendary Mossad agent Peter Malkin, while Ben Kingsley plays his emotionally manipulative arch-nemesis. After tracking Eichmann down to Buenos Aires, Malkin and his men captured him and brought him to Israel for a historic 8-month trial. On Christmas Eve in 1944, SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann (Kingsley) flees the Eastern Front to Berlin to coordinate the destruction of documents related to Department B4, going into hiding after the war ends. In Buenos Aires, Sylvia Hermann (Haley Lu Richardson) begins courting Klaus Eichmann (Joe Alwyn). Klaus meets Sylvia and her German-Jewish father, Lothar (Peter Strauss) at home. Klaus speaks of his father's service with the SS but tells Lothar that he had died on the Eastern Front, and that he has been raised by his uncle, Ricardo. Suspicious, Lothar passes this information to West German prosecutor-general Fritz Bauer. Bauer, suspecting Klaus' uncle may in fact be Adolf Eichmann, relays this intelligence to Mossad director Isser Harel (Lior Raz) in Tel Aviv, but Harel is unwilling to devote resources to investigate. At the insistence of Rafi Eitan (Nick Kroll), Harel dispatches field agent Zvi Aharoni (Michael Aronov) to Buenos Aries to begin reconnaissance. At a dinner party celebrating Argentina's 150th anniversary of independence from Spain, Klaus introduces Sylvia to Carlos Fuldner, a former Nazi officer who assisted with SS members escape to Argentina. Fuldner addresses the guests with anti-Semitic rhetoric invoking the Hitlergrüsse, leaving Sylvia visibly disturbed, who promptly leaves..