Hannah Arendt Page #6

Yes.

Hello...

My darling.

You're all the rage around here.

Hello, Stups.

Let's not waste time on that.

The Israeli prosecutor is flying here

to speak to survivors in New York.

Listen to the Daily News headline:

"Prosecutor Answers...

Hannah Arendt's

Bizarre Defense of Eichmann."

On the frontpage! All

just a tempest in a tea cup.

This is no tempest.

It's a hurricane, Hannah.

Tell me what's for dinner.

Spinach,

whole wheat bread and water.

It's good youre not here in New York.

They are all accusing you

of having defended Eichmann,

Hannah.

Stups, it's just a few articles

in a magazine.

My dear,

you are really naive.

She thinks her sarcasm

will protect her.

It only shows me her vulnerability.

She tries to detach herself

from the story

but ends up bringing it closer to her.

Wrong, completely wrong.

It's not about her.

But where is she...

when she writes about

this Nazi and his crimes?

She has the right to feel pain,

and to show it.

That would be shameless.

And quite out of character.

You have to be aware

that if she represses so much pain,

it will eventually overwhelm her.

And you too.

Professor Heidegger

is here for you.

Thanks.

Time is mysterious:

it can return

and transform everything.

As I saw you again and you stood

there in your beautiful dress

I knew that this would be the

beginning of something new for us.

Please stop a moment.

I wasn't sure if I should come.

There is no greater invitation to love

than to love first:

"Nulla est enim maior

ad amorem invitatio

quam prevenire amando."

St. Augustine.

Your last letter grieved me.

How could you believe

all that slander?

After I read your first rector's speech

I was sick to my stomach.

I couldn't believe it.

The man who'd taught me to think

was behaving like a fool.

I know they were bitter years for you,

full of misery, hardship and helplessness.

But they weren't easy for me either.

Martin, I came here

because I want to understand.

Hannah...

I'm like the lad who dreams

and knows not what he does.

I have no talent nor

experience with politics,

but now I have learned

and in the future

I want to learn even more.

Then why not bring this to an end

and explain yourself in public?

You're the toast of the town.

Mary. Hello.

Oh, my goodness,

it's good to see you. Here.

Oh. Beautiful.

They're from Jim.

He sends his love.

He can't wait to meet you.

Well, when will I finally meet him?

Well, we'll sort something out.

How was the trip? Oh, my goodness.

It was great, but I'm starving.

You should come to the talk.

Oh-You can't do that.

- You have to follow the rules.

- Oh, why? Nobody else does.

But what do you want me to discuss?

There has not been one single

critique of what I actually wrote.

Did you really have no idea there

would be such a furious reaction?

Oh, Hannah. Not even a little?

You did take a certain tone,

not the usual one.

Untrue.

The tone is quite normal for me.

Well, for you, yes, but no one's ever dared to

be the least bit ironic about the situation.

You are trying to distract me.

Never.

- Oh. - See?

I'm telling you, it is useless.

I'm sure half of them

haven't even read the book.

Exactly. And that is why

you should speak publicly about it.

No. Yes. Expose their hypocrisy.

Force them to a real discussion.

I refuse to explain myself

to these dimwits.

In the silent dialogue with myself...

I am alone.

You have a very good memory.

Ja.

Terrible accent.

If I win, do you promise to answer

me a terribly personal question?

You won't win-

Mm-hmm.

If I can promise you anything.

So-

Was he the greatest

love of your life?

Who?

You know.

Your secret king of thinking.

No. He was not.

That is Heinrich.

All right then.

Uh, fill in the blank.

"Heidegger was the greatest-

in my entire life."

Oh, come on.

I won't tell anybody.

There are some things...

that are stronger than

a single human being.

And did you read the book? You read it? I

can't believe it. I bet she doesn't even show up.

The worst mistake

was to criticize the Jews...

while the mass murderer

was sitting there in the dock.

Yeah, and to describe

this murderer as a clown.

A foolish little servant of Hitler

who didn't have a mind of his own.

And yet she says he's normal.

That's Hannah Arendt.

All cleverness and no feeling.

I love that line

in your article, Norman.

I trust you've all read

Norman's incisive rebuttal.

What's it called?

"The Perversity of Brilliance."

"The Perversity of Brilliance." You were

more fair than she had any right to expect.

Now, of course, she's shocked.

Oh, nonsense. She lives for

such intellectual sensations.

And she's far too smart not to realize

the scandal she would provoke...

by attacking the Jewish leaders.

- Exactly.

- Last time we met, you were begging her to teach at your department.

Well, won't make that mistake again.

You're all treating Hannah Arendt

like a suspect in a police court...

instead of a respected

political thinker.

Please, Bill, no one has attacked

Hannah Eichmann's character.

Your review of Hannah's work

proves that you're too hysterical...

to write a single coherent sentence.

And that charming little slip of the tongue proves

that Lionel has lost his power of speech as well.

You're so smitten

with Arendt's European pretensions.

She could defend Himmler himself,

and you'd go along.

Oh, down, Norman. Down.

Your fangs are showing.

Almost no one here

has even read the articles.

Some of us tried,

but couldn't bear to go on.

Well, of course you couldn't.

Hannah doesn't write soap operas.

And, of course, it would

be too much to expect Ms. Arendt...

to report on Eichmann's actual trial.

She had to come up with

something more interesting than that.

Who does she think she is?

Aristotle?

Unlike all of you, Hannah was

actually forced into exile.

She was held in a brutal

detention camp.

Isn't it admirable

that she is the only one...

who can discuss this subject

without beating her breast?

And why do you think that is? Because

she's smarter than people with feelings?

Well, in your case, Norman,

being smarter is easy.

She's more courageous than you are.

Ladies and gentlemen,

there will be plenty of time for discussion

after our speakers have presented.

Settle down so we can begin.

Ms. Arendt?

Siegfried!

You remember me? Of course.

You were in Kurt Blumenfeld's

Zionist group in Berlin.

It's hard to believe

that you were once a Zionist.

The Israeli secret service didn't send

you to discuss my youthful folly.

I'm here to request that you stop the

publication of your book about Adolf Eichmann.

The State of Israel bought

four plane tickets to tell me that?

You must have money to burn

to waste it like that.

It's incomprehensible that you, a Jew,

could tell such lies about your people.

You describe a book I never wrote.

A book that will never

be allowed in Israel.

And won't appear anywhere else either

Rate this script:3.0 / 1 vote