This
brilliant documentary seeks to establish the hero status of Rudolf Kasztner. Kasztner successfully bargained with Adolf
Eichmann to save the lives of approximately 1,600 Jews, who were transported out of
Hungary to Switzerland, and an additional 19,000 Jews who were sent to work camps instead of
death camps. Shortly before the end of
World War II, Eichmann masterminded the killing of near 600,000
Hungarian Jews.
Kasztner
ends up in living in Palestine under the British mandate, and eventually becomes a member of the Ben-Gurion
government in the new state of Israel. Another Israeli calls him a Holocaust collaborator, who is then sued by the Israeli
government for libel. The judge overseeing
the case believes Kasztner lied about certain documents and acquits Kasztner's alleged slanderer. Ultimately
the Israeli Supreme Court reverses the judgment, but Kasztner's reputation is
never fully restored.
The documentary spectacularly sets forth what occurred and establishes, to my satisfaction, that Kasztner was a hero. Kasztner is killed shortly after the first trial finding him to be a collaborator. His assassin, who is presented in the film, comes to the conclusion that he was wrong. He now believes that Kasztner was a hero bargaining with the Nazis to release Jews in exchange for money - $1000 for each Jew.