This bio-pic about the German writer who covered the trial of Nazi Adolf Eichmann is very good, featuring a powerful and award-winning performance by Barbara Sukowa in the title role. I keep humming "don't know much about history..." because this taught me a few things. Sukowa isn't familiar to me even though she was in at least two movies I've seen, Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001) and Romance & Cigarettes. Janet McTeer (last blogged in Albert Nobbs) lends some much-needed comic relief as author Mary McCarthy, Arendt's closest American friend. Jack and I knew the face of the actor playing New Yorker editor William Shawn, Nicholas Woodeson, but didn't know why. Research shows he was in Topsy-Turvy (1999), Hysteria, Skyfall, and more. I was touched by the portrayal of the sweet relationship Arendt had with her husband Heinrich Blücher (that made her Frau Blücher--ha!).
Director/co-writer Margarethe von Trotta has directed 14 features since 1975 but I missed them all. I could tell by the pacing, though, that she's a seasoned professional, and this project has added to her list of awards and nominations. Von Trotta shared writing duties with Pam Katz. I liked the music by André Mergenthaler but can't find any tracks online to share.
Arendt breaks my Rule #13, convincingly chain smoking and fully extinguishing her cigarette in one scene. It's a wonder the real Arendt made it to age 69 if she smoked as much as Sukowa does in the movie.
The movie is in English, German, and Hebrew (all translated in subtitles, except the word meschugge, which means crazy in Yiddish). Critics are averaging 88% and audiences 76 on rottentomatoes. Check it out at your local independent theatre.
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