Once Upon a Twilight!: Movie Review: #OperationFinale

Operation Finale
Director: Chris Weitz
Writers: Matthew Orton
Starring: Oscar Isaac, Ben Kingsley, Mélanie Laurent
MPAA Rating: PG-13
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Hashtag #OperationFinale

A team of secret agents set out to track down the Nazi officer who masterminded the Holocaust.

Let me start off by saying that this movie is superb. I hate the Holocaust as much as the next person, it literally boggles my mind and I fail to comprehend how a group of people can sit there and think they're better, superior, whatever it was they thought than another race of human beings. We are ALL humans, we all have the exact same rights and absolutely no one is superior to anyone else, period. And yes, we've had a lot of movies about the Holocaust made, yes it seems our society is a little obsessed with WWII, but, then again, it is one of the biggest, strongest, worst things that's ever happened in our world history and there is still so, so much to learn about it and from it -even when it's been over for 70+ years. This movie taught me things I didn't know about what happened after the war had finally ended. This movie showed us that we humans are capable of much, much destruction and awful things, but that we also can do many beautiful ones too that, hopefully, some day will surpass the bad ones.

OK, now that I've gotten my little speech out of the way, let me get to the movie. What can I say about a beautifully filmed, amazingly directed, and lead by none other than Sir Ben Kingsley and Oscar Isaac -two of the best actors we have today? This is what I have to say: go watch it because it's an incredibly well done movie, in my humble opinion. By the way, I want to add that the entire cast is phenomenal. Let me go by parts:

The Plot: As you read in the synopsis above, the plot of this movie is about a group of secret agents from Israel that find out that Adolf Eichmann ( played by Sir Ben Kingsley), dimmed "The Architect of the Holocaust", had escaped to Argentina and was living a life there pretending to be someone else. They decide to fly there and bring him back to Israel to stand trial and hold him accountable for the horrors he authorized and conducted himself. Oscar Isaac plays Peter Malkin who is the main agent, so to speak. A little more than that goes on, but I don't do spoilers in my reviews, so that's all I will say about it.

The Acting: I have to say every single actor in this movie was incredible, really. We just get to see more of Sir Ben Kingsley and Oscar Isaac because most scenes are of these two together. There's one particular scene towards the end of the movie in which Adolf Eichmann says some pretty hurtful things to Peter and the emotion they both show, the delivery, everything was just incredible and so moving. I also want to say that Oscar Isaac's acting in this movie is so very good, and not just for the sake of saying he's a good actor, it's because his portrayal of his character makes me want to believe in humanity again. He did such a good job in showing us that, when you are emotionally mature and a good hearted person, no matter how much pain you have endured, what horrors you have lived and seen, you can learn from them and channel that for good. His entire demeanor during this movie is of such a loving and sweet man. Yes, he had his moments of weakness, but he never ever gave into any of them. I think Oscar is going to rise even higher as an actor than he already has in the very near future. I want to talk more about Sir Ben Kingsley's character, but everything I want to say about it sounds like a spoiler. I guess, all I can say is that his character fools you more than once and that is only possible because of how good of an actor Sir Ben Kingsley is. Aside from these two amazing actors, I really have to say that I loved every one's performance, and it was pleasantly surprising to see Nick Kroll in a more serious roll, since he normally does more comedy-type of projects. I also loved seeing Melanie Laurent in another movie about the Holocaust and her, being a Jew in the movie and in real life, taking revenge on a Nazi (or, in the case of "Inglorious Bastards", Nazis, in plural). I swear to you that if this movie doesn't get an Academy Award Nomination, I will be very disappointed.

Before I conclude my review, I want to also honor someone else from this movie. One of the newer actors that comes out in the film is my friend Michael Hernandez (credited as Michael Benjamin Hernandez in this movie and he plays Dani Shalom), whom you get to see in a few scenes. I was so, so excited to see him (probably more than I was to see anyone else because, well, I know him) and when I saw his name in the opening credits, I couldn't help but smile and feel proud. But that is nothing compared to how and what I felt when I actually saw him on screen. It is so exciting and weird at the same time to see someone you know and have hung out with and talk through text sometimes on a big screen with all these big actors. I'm very proud of you, Michael! I know you're going to go far! Please go see the movie also to support my friend!