大象传媒

The trial of Adolf Eichmann in 1961 became the first documentary series broadcast around the world. It was a historic and ground-breaking moment in revealing some of the experiences and tragedies of the holocaust and the death of some 6 million Jews. Prof Cesarani suggests that the trial was important for bringing into the open the 鈥楯ewish story鈥� and for humanising and dramatizing a story so vast that it was almost inconceivable. Gabriel Bach, deputy prosecutor at the trial recalls objections from a delegation of Israeli teachers to the trial and the feeling of shame they had that millions of people were destroyed without defending themselves. The trial filming was the brainchild of American producer Milton Fructmann who is played by Martin Freeman in this clip from 鈥淭he Eichmann Show鈥�. He hires Leo Hurwitz as director, a man blacklisted during McCarthy era of America for supposed communist sympathies. Prime Minister be-Gurion had given permission for the filming only so long as the judges agreed, which they initially did not until Fruchtman conceived the plan to hide the cameras in the walls and apparatus of the court room. Fruchtman discusses how he realised the role camera could play on the impact on the evidence, disruption of the witnesses, making them self-conscious and concern that their testimony should be unobstructed. Leo Hurwitz鈥檚 son discusses the methodology of the camera shooting and how that lent to the tension and watchability, especially of Eichmann where the camera is seen to dwell on his facial expressions, his fidgety hands and seated discomfort combined with cut-aways to a shocked audience. The tension in the court-room was felt in a serious and focused production room. The clip finishes with a pensive Hurwitz displaying the stress felt by the camera team, finding it difficult to reconcile the hellish stories they recorded at the trial and the blue skies of Jerusalem outside.