Hannah Arendt

The film portrays Hannah Arendt (Barbara Sukowa). We experience the intensity of this powerful Jewish woman who fled Nazi Germany in 1933, during the four years (1961 to 1964) that she observes, writes, and endures the reception of her work on the trial of the Nazi war criminal, Adolf Eichmann. When Arendt hears that the Israeli Secret Service has kidnapped Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires and brought him to Jerusalem, she is determined to report on the trial. William Shawn (Nicholas Woodeson), the editor of "The New Yorker" magazine, is thrilled, but Arendt's husband, Heinrich Blücher (Axel Milberg), is not so sure. He worries that this encounter will put his beloved Hannah back into what they both call the "dark times." Arendt enters the tense Jerusalem courtroom and quickly realizes that the contrast between his shallow mediocrity and his evil actions is the puzzle that must be solved. Arendt begins to discuss her ground-breaking interpretation, but is warned. Her philosophical approach will only cause confusion. Arendt defends her courageous and original perspective and after two years of intense thought, additional reading, and further debate with her best American friend, Mary McCarthy (Janet McTeer) her German researcher and friend, Lotte Köhler (Julia Jentsch) and constant consultation with Heinrich, she finally delivers her manuscript. The publication of the article in "The New Yorker" provokes an immediate scandal in the U.S., Israel, and soon in the rest of the world. www.hannaharendt-derfilm.de