Arizona Reporter - Movie Reviews - 18/10
KILLING KASZTNER: THE JEW WHO DEALT WITH NAZIS
GR Films
Reviewed for Arizona Reporter by Harvey Karten
Grade: B
Directed by: Gaylen Ross
Written By: Gaylen Ross, Andrew Cohen
Cast: Zsuzsi Kasztner, Merav Michaeli, Ze’ev Eckstein, Joseph Lapid, Uri Avnery, Eli Rosenbaum
Screened at: Critics’ DVD, NYC, 10/17/09
Opens: October 23, 2009
The documentary has us take another look at that ironic quote, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” or another, equally ironic, “No good deed goes unpunished.” In “Killing Kasztner: The Jew Who Deals with Nazis,” documentarian Gaylen Ross revives the name of a Hungarian Jew little known today even in Israel. What is fascinating about the man is that he is considered a hero by many, but as one who sold his soul to the devil by others. By contrast Hannah Senesh, the heroic Jewish-Hungarian parachutist who was dropped behind enemy lines to Yugoslavia to join partisans helping Jews to escape the German occupation, is virtually worshipped by Israelis, Jews worldwide, and others connected to the cause of freedom.
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What, specifically, did Kasztner do to split the Israeli and worldwide Jewish community into one group calling him a hero and others a traitor? He negotiated directly with Adolf Eichmann, in charge of transporting Jews to the death camps, to gain the release of Jews, eventually winning the right from the Nazi leader to send 1,684 Hungarian Jews on a train to Switzerland. Films taken recently show these survivors together with their children and grandchildren, an impressive job by Kasztner who thereby saved more Jews than Oskar Schindler. On the other hand, Kasztner had been spat upon by fellow Israelis in Tel Aviv where he had lived until his assassination in 1957, their enmity coming from the fact that he even negotiated face to face with pure evil. Some say that he even stole some of the ransom money. He also testified at the war crimes trials to save one Nazi official in charge of economic affairs, meaning the guy leading the theft of riches from the deported Jews, wealth transferred to German hands. One of his biggest opponents was an anonymous fellow who states in a Facebook website “Kasztner saved 1,100 [sic] handpicked Jews, most of them elite Zionists. He collaborated with Eichmann and over half a million Hungarian Jews ended up at Auschwitz….Eichmann had less than two companies of soldiers and couldn’t have accomplished this without Kasztner’s help.”
Now, this does not sound convincing to me, but it would have sounded top-gun to Ze’ev Eckstein, the man responsible for shooting Kasztner down in cold blood in 1957. He and two accomplices received life terms, but all were released in just seven years partly through the intercession of Israeli’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion.
As for the quality of the documentary…there are some worthy archival scenes of Budapest during the 1930s, showing all men wearing fedoras, the people going about their daily urban tasks. These scenes are contrasted with those of modern Tel Aviv, a prosperous looking city that resembles even southern California, bathed in sunlight, populated by people on the move—all overlooking a popular beach. Assassin Eckstein himself speaks slowly, perhaps because his English is halting—his plodding manner soporific. He looks anything like the radical right extremist that he himself would probably agree describes him well, by his confession a nice Jewish boy who turned to radical politics.
The camera spends considerable time with Kasztner’s family, particularly his daughter Zsuzsi, with whom he actually met—as Zsuzsi wanted to get to know the man, though as filmed here the conference looks anything but dramatic.
In the end, documentarian Gaylen Ross means to be unbiased in analyzing the complex Hungarian liberator, but we’re left with the view that on balance he should be considered a hero. The evidence that he was a Quisling, based, in seems, strictly on the fact that he dared to face evil in direct talks, is lacking. As Winston Churchill once said, “If Hitler were to attack the devil, I would negotiate an alliance with Satan.” In English,Hebrew and Hungarian.
KILLING KASZTNER: THE JEW WHO DEALT WITH NAZIS
Unrated. 129 minutes. © 2009 by Harvey Karten Member: NY Film Critics Online
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