Synopsis

Explores the trial of Nazi officer Adolph Eichmann through a controversial book, 'Eichmann in Jerusalem' by Hannah Arendt. Many Jews read her reports from Jerusalem with a sense of deep hurt and outrage as she questioned the legality and political purpose of the trial, portraying Eichmann as 'banal rather than evil', and making sweeping comments on Jewish resistance and cooperation. Using archive film of the trial and interviews with friends, historians, and survivors of the camps in New York and Jerusalem, this documentary pieces together the different reactions to Arendt's arguments, and to the painful process of turning the Holocaust into history.