Hannah Arendt  

“Hannah Arendt turns ideas into the best kind of entertainment. Its climax matches some of the great courtroom scenes in cinema.”—A. O. Scott, New York Times

In the award-winning Hannah Arendt, the sublime Barbara Sukowa reteams with Margarethe von Trotta for a brilliant new biopic of the influential German-Jewish philosopher and political theorist. Arendt’s reporting on the 1961 trial of ex-Nazi Adolf Eichmann in the New Yorker—controversial both for her portrayal of Eichmann and the Jewish councils—introduced her now-famous concept of the “Banality of Evil.” Using footage from the actual Eichmann trial and weaving a narrative that spans three countries, von Trotta beautifully turns the often-invisible passion for thought into immersive, dramatic cinema. (113 mins., DCP)

John Davidson, associate professor in Ohio State’s Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures and director of the university’s Film Studies program, moderates a discussion following the screening on September 24.