One of the most heated and controversial debates surrounding the Holocaust relates to the role the Catholic Church played, or failed to play, during those events. Despite the significance of this topic, filmmakers have generally preferred to portray the Holocaust from the perspective of victims and survivors. A notable exception, albeit an obscure one due to its controversial thesis, is the 2002 French film Amen., directed by Costa-Gavras.
Amen. is based on The Representative, a 1963 controversial play by German writer Rolf Hochhuth, which was often accused of being anti-Catholic or serving as Soviet Cold War propaganda. The play is partially based on the real-life story of Kurt Gerstein, an SS officer who is presented as the film's protagonist, played by Ulrich Tukur. The plot describes how Gerstein, a chemist by trade, is tasked with developing techniques for water purification and the eradication of vermin. He soon learns that Zyklon B, a chemical mixture originally intended to prevent typhus, is being used for gassing Jews deported to concentration camps. Despite being a Nazi and SS officer, Gerstein is a devout Christian and becomes troubled by what he has witnessed. He decides to do anything in his power to stop the atrocities and concludes that the best way is to inform the Catholic Church and appeal to its moral and diplomatic authority. He receives an ally in Italian Jesuit priest Riccardo Fontana (played by Mathieu Kassovitz) and ultimately travels to Rome in an attempt to get an audience with Pope Pius XII (played by Marcel Iures). However, the Church, either due to indifference, cowardice, or a tacit alliance with Hitler's Germany, which the staunchly anti-Communist Pope sees as the lesser evil compared to Stalin's USSR, fails to take any action.
Costa-Gavras seemed like a perfect choice to direct this film. The French director had become nearly synonymous with "political cinema" thanks to his films that dealt with the depiction of various real-life events, usually from a left-wing perspective, while presenting them in the form of powerful dramas and exciting thrillers. The Catholic Church, which was seen as a traditional enemy of the Left in Europe due to its conservatism, is depicted here as at least an indirect accessory to one of the greatest crimes in history. However, Gavras does not spare the United States either, especially in the final scenes that depict how, due to cynical Cold War calculations, the U.S., like the Church with its infamous post-war "Ratlines," ensured that many perpetrators never faced justice. Gavras had already delved into similar issues with his 1989 courtroom thriller Music Box.
The problem with Amen. is that it was perhaps made a few decades too late. Gavras apparently lost the ability to make his case in a comprehensive and audience-friendly manner. The film turns into a rather dry docudrama in which characters walk from one office to another, trying to change policies in a repetitive fashion. Despite spirited performances by Ulrich Tukur and Matthieu Kassovitz, the film begins to look like a cheap sermon.
While the theme of Amen. is fascinating and worth exploring, Gavras simply fails in his task from a strictly technical level, making this film a disappointment for everyone who based their expectations on the reputation of the master of political cinema.
RATING: 4/10 (+)
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