Al Pacino is starring in a new Amazon Prime series entitled “Hunters”, which is based on the true story of Nazi-Hunters in the 1970s.

Al Pacino is starring in a new Amazon Prime series entitled “Hunters”, which is based on the true story of Nazi-Hunters in the 1970s.

Co-produced by Jordan Peele and created by David Weil, the new series debuted on February 21 on the streaming platform. Hollywood legend Al Pacino plays Meyer Offerman, the Jewish leader of the vigilante group. Rounding out the “hunters” is a largely Jewish cast: Logan Lerman, Saul Rubinek, Josh Radnor and Carol Kane.

The series has garnered mixed reviews, with some accusing it of deviating from the true story for the sake of entertainment on par with a comic book movie.

The discrepancies begin with the characters themselves: the new series features an Army veteran (played by Louis Ozawa Changchien), movie star Lonny Flash (Josh Radnor), two weapons experts (Saul Rubinek and Carol Kane), a lockpicker (Tifanny Boone) and a British nun (Kate Mulvany).

In real life, the number of Nazi hunters was actually large but decidedly more nondescript and ordinary than these screen counterparts.

Amongst the most famous was Simon Wiesenthal, who survived four concentration camps. Wiesenthal and his wife lost an estimated 89 relatives to the Nazis.

He started his Nazi hunting shortly after being liberated from the Mauthausen camp. Still recovering from the unspeakable terror, Wiesenthal began documenting names and details of Nazis and collaborators, from guards to Gestapo officials.

In the 1960s, Wiesenthal launched the Documentation Centre of the Association of Jewish Victims of the Nazi Regime in Vienna and became a Mossad agent. He helped find Nazis such as Karl Silberbauer, the Gestapo officer who arrested Anne Frank, and Franz Stangl, the commander of the Treblinka and Sobibor camps. Additionally, he provided key intelligence on many former Nazi officials. Wiesenthal died in 2005.

Another notable figure was Rabbi Marvin Hier, who started the Simon Wiesenthal Center in the United States in 1977, which describes itself as “a global human rights organization researching the Holocaust and hate in a historic and contemporary context.” Hier appointed another Nazi hunter, Efraim Zuroff, to head the center.

Contrary to the new series, which takes place in New York City, the majority of escaped Nazi war criminals actually made their way to South America where they could live in anonymity.

Former Nazis who’ve been apprehended have faced deportation, life sentences in jail, and even execution.

Naturally, the premise of the new series also stirs debate on the morality of Jews persecuting Nazis as retribution.

“Hunters” is streaming on Amazon Prime now.