Directed by Gaylen Ross, the riveting documentary traces how things turned from bad to worse for Kasztner. Heading a group called “Vaada,” in Hungary, Kasztner was able to save 1,685 Jews aboard a train that eventually went to Switzerland. He did this by making a deal with Adolph Eichmann, where goods and money were traded for lives. Many say he saved thousands more. Later, Kasztner took part in a libel suit against Malchiel Gruenwald, who claimed that Kasztner was a Nazi collaborator, who saved some Hungarian Jews while not warning the rest and profited financially from the deal. The problem for Kasztner was he was caught in a lie.

Though he for some reason wrote an affidavit in defense of SS officer Kurt Becher, he denied it in the trial. Judge Benjamin Halevi then gave Kasztner the kiss of death by saying that he sold his soul to the devil. The Israeli Supreme Court later acquitted him but by that time, a bullet from Eckstein had killed the man in question, though strangely Eckstein makes a claim about bullets that sounds like it’s from an Oliver Stone movie.

Uri Avnery published the stories for his weekly “HaOlam Hazeh,” and the film posits that the political motive was to hurt the Mapai party and embarrass Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion.

A number of points of the film could make your blood boil. One woman who is a Kasztner survivor, dressed in a fancy outfit, says if she hadn’t been on the train, she would have survived anyway. The film also speaks of a request by Kasztner to the Satmar Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum (who was on the train) to testify or send a letter that he was saved by Kasztner. The Satmar Rebbe did neither, saying that Kasztner didn’t save him, but rather God saved him, a man in the film claims.

In a question and answer period after the film Ross, said some Satmar Chasidim who saw the film told her the letter exists and the Satmar Rebbe wrote the letter but never sent it.

A portion of the film has Eckstein blaming the Shin Bet for recruiting him to investigate “Sulam,” a right-wing group aimed at revolution. Eckstein says he was sent “like a lamb into a lion’s cage,” and soon aympathized with those he was sent to spy on.

He speaks of the group who he soon began to believe in as follows: “They cared about me…a sensation that was not so common in my life.” He also says he felt like an extension of God’s hands.

Unbelievably, Kasztner’s daughter Zsuzsi, speaks of how she agreed to have her father’s killer pardoned (she claims it was going to happen anyway) and she talks civilly with him at the end of the film in an emotionally charged sequence. She also goes to Yad Vashem and a Holocaust museum Hungary and asks why her father’s role as someone who saved so many Jews isn’t highlighted. Additionally, she speaks of how every day, students would call her a Nazi and also spat at her father.

There’s another oddity as some Kasztner survivors refer to themselves as second- class survivors, while a female survivor says that “60 years later, we feel we don’t have a right to exist.” The film also shows how Israeli students don’t know much of anything about Kasztner but know about Hannah Senesh, who was heroic but didn’t save anyone. “I think the state of Israel likes its heroes dead,” a student says.

As to the question of whether or not Kasztner could have warned the rest of Hungarian Jewry about the death camps. Yet the film shows one man who says he warned fellow Jews, but they didn’t want to listen.

Oskar Lustig, a Holocaust survivor from Budapest, said he liked the film but added that it should have stressed the fact that Kasztner left fro Switzerland and came back more than once, at his own peril.

“I’d have to say he’s a kind of hero,” Lustig said. “He put himself at risk. I don’t know how anyone could say he sold his soul to the devil.”

Ross, who worked on the film for about seven years, said it’s easy to demonize people and forget about facts and pointed to a part of the film where someone laments that Jews took the word of Eichmann who said Kasztner was like a Nazi.

“What I hope people take away from this film is to look at what really happened at look at things with an open mind,’ Ross told nyBlueprint.com after a showing of the film. “ I think the most surprising thing I found is that even with all of the information and facts, there are those who dismiss it and they will dismiss everything and say “Eichmann said.’”

The film includes a portion where Eckstein claims his life is like living in a hell, though it’s difficult to feel bad for an assassin. The film is fascinating and it’s often hard to believe that some of these things could have taken place.

“Killing Kasztner” is a film that brings some interesting points to light and while the entire truth may be hard to come by, and some conspiracy theories might be dubious, you won’t be able to take your eyes off the screen.

“Killing Kasztner”

Directed by Gaylen Ross

At Cinema Village, 22 East 12th St

1:30, 4:00, 6:30, 8:55