AllMovie

Since the well-publicized capture of Nazi chief Adolf Eichmann in Argentina in May of 1960, documentaries and docudramas were rapidly put together to take advantage of his April-May, 1961 trial in Jerusalem. This is one of the best such efforts because it eschews actors, fiction, and polemics to use only historical footage collected throughout Europe, clips from the trial itself, and excerpts from various Nazi films. Nothing more is needed than the truth expressed in the well-edited, often dehumanizing clips to move any viewer into compassion. The rise of Eichmann and the multiple atrocities committed during the war, from the slaughter of all the men in the village of Lidice in revenge for the assassination of the "Hangman of Prague" to the skeletal victims of the concentration camps, are all vividly brought forward as evidence. Eichmann is represented during the war via still photos, and is shown during his trial where he never once demonstrates an iota of remorse.