Ben Kingsley Needed An Outside Perspective For His Operation Finale Role
In 2018, Film Inquiry sat down with actor Ben Kingsley to discuss his weighty role as Adolf Eichmann in "Operation Finale," a film about a group of spies that capture the Nazi warlord in Argentina in 1960. Eichmann was the "architect of the Final Solution," a leader who organized and managed the mass deportation and deaths of the Jewish people in concentration camps during World War II.
Film Inquiry asks Kingsley, "How did you get into the mind of such a dark and ruthless mass murderer?" They use a chilling quote from Eichmann to demonstrate just how evil the man was; not only did he arrange the massacre of countless lives, but he enjoyed doing it, stating, "I will leap into my grave laughing because the feeling that I have 5 million human beings on my conscience is for me a source of extraordinary satisfaction."
Kingsley took a different approach to playing Eichmann, making no attempt to understand the reasons for his depravity:
"I never got into his mind, ever. My perspective, my point of view, on that portrait of Eichmann was entirely shaped by my close association, friendship, with the survivors of the Holocaust that I have been privileged to meet in my journey as an actor."
Kingsley based his performance on the suffering that Eichmann caused rather than trying to discover what made him tick internally. He drew from the experiences of Anne Frank's friend Jacqueline van Maarsen; Miep Gies, who hid the Franks in her attic; Elie Wiesel, the author of "Night"; and several survivors from Oskar Schindler's factory. Their stories inform his chilling portrayal of Eichmann in "Operation Finale" in a number of ways.
What makes his performance great
During his interview with Film Inquiry, Ben Kingsley elaborates on the emotional distance he maintained from the character of Adolf Eichmann:
"I never had to get into his mind, his silhouette, his shape. It was molded by my knowledge of his victims and how much they had suffered under him ... I did not base my performance on his ideology, I based my performance on the suffering that he caused to some of my closest and dearest friends amongst the survivors.
Kingsley made no attempt to empathize or understand Eichmann's point of view, and his aloof performance reflects this. Kingsley conveys the frightening banality of Eichmann's evil through his fastidious attitude and quietness. It is not a mechanical performance, but a cold one. The actor shows how Eichmann was a calculating man who knew exactly how to manipulate others. In one scene, he makes the agent Peter Malkin believe that he regrets the deaths of Malkin's sister and nephew. In the measured delivery of his lines, Kingsley depicts how Eichmann's maliciousness was a source of patriotic pride.
Kingsley's acting method for "Operation Finale" opposes his roles as notable Jewish figures. In "Schindler's List", he plays the determined Itzhak Stern who helps save 1,200 Jewish men and women. According to Kingsley's interview with NPR, during filming, he "had a picture of Anne Frank in my coat pocket, and I would say to this picture of this beautiful girl before takes: 'I'm doing this for you.'" His affection for Anne also helped him play her father in "Anne Frank: The Whole Story." Kingsley approaches these significant Jewish roles with love and tenderness, unlike his sinister performance of Eichmann, whom Kingsley wanted to "nail to the gates of Auschwitz" (via The Times of Israel).