27 September 2013
The rich life of a German-Jewish thinker gets the deadly bio-pic treatment. Director Margarethe von Trotta is no hack and her long-time muse, Barbara Sukowa (Marianne & Julian; Rosa Luxemburg), is both earthy and charismatic in the lead role. Still, Arendt's controversial covering of the Adolf Eichmann trial for the New Yorker, her friendship with Mary McCarthy (Janet McTeer; OTT) and flash-back affair with Heidegger (Klaus Pohl), feel like points of interest on the most plodding of guided tours. A colleague learns that Arendt got the New Yorker gig simply by asking for it and notes, admiringly, “Everything is simple for a genius”. Making a movie about a genius; now that's hard.
