Review – The Specialist

This documentary edits footage from Adolf Eichmann’s trial together with spooky music to paint a portrait of “the banality of evil.” I could have done without the extra drama, as if the calm discussion of mass extermination of human beings wasn’t creepy enough without added sound effects. However, the portrait of the man that emerges from the unadulterated footage is fascinating. Eichmann sticks so fervently to the “I vas chust vollowink ordars” line that it’s almost enough to make one wonder how a normal person would react to such an insane situation. But the testimony also exposes the man’s (and his society’s) obsession with organization, as if genocide was nothing more than an interesting challenge of the proper arrangement of rail transport schedules. And every once in awhile the defendant slips up and reveals a little of the “real Eichmann,” such as the notorious “remorse is for little children” line. Though I thought that the film-making tricks were unnecessary, I found the rest of it fascinating. Worth seeing