Category Archives: Jewish Movies
The Believer: When Two Opposites Meet in One Man’s Soul
The intense film “The Believer” (2001, directed by Henry Bean) tells the story of Danny Balint (played by Ryan Gosling), a Jewish boy whose objection to the Jewish tradition and its messages led him to believe in radical anti-Semitic views and join underground fascist and neo-Nazi organizations in the hope of tracking down Jewish officials and kill them. Based on a true story, “The Believer” doesn’t only refer to the upsetting and unusual fate of Balint. It also gives us a peak into a religious man’s inner battles, being constantly torn from faith or the religious establishment but then returning time and again, seeking the truth underneath the wreckage.
The new Jew
Danny, who resents everything Judaism stands for in his eyes, represents the cry of heresy, which grows on tradition’s cracks and faults. Unlike what we would expect, this film does not introduce us with a one-note character of a maniac bully eager to murder Jews, but presents us an aching character, complex and multi dimensional, whose one and only true wish is nothing but deep change in the tissues of the culture he belongs to. Danny’s journey begins as a little boy who cannot accept the teacher’s unsettling answers to his severe questions. He does not accept the “sacrificial status” of the Jews, as glorified in the Binding of Isaac scene from Genesis, and as he grows he aims to be the exact opposite of the intellectual weak Jew he has seen around him as a child. Therefore Danny becomes a strong, menacing and fearless boy, welcoming pain at any given moment (as we see in fights he starts, his tattoo, his willingness to watch his girlfriend while she’s sleeping with someone else etc.). However, this is only one side of Danny’s feelings towards Judaism. In “The Believer” we see that Danny does not loathe Judaism as is, on the contrary – he cherishes deeply the essence of Judaism: The Torah scrolls, the Hebrew letters, the ceremonies. They are an inseparable part of him, placed deep within his soul.
The lesson
Danny wishes to bring these sides forth and leave the artificial twisted sides behind. Where he fails, we need to try and succeed. This movie asks us to value our freedom and choose wisely according to our inner compass without giving up on who we are. Danny’s conflict couldn’t be resolved only because no one before him paved a compromising path, where confronting extremes could live in peace with one another. It seems as though the director tells us “Danny was trapped in logic. His intellect defeated him” and asks us to understand that life is filled with paradoxes and we just need to find a way to live with them, without waiving any part of our souls. A difficult task? Definitely. A necessary one? No doubt.
Best Jewish Movies of the Last Decade
Jewish movies lists usually cover all-time classics. But what Jewish-themed movies have been made in the last decade?
Adaptation of Biblical stories into movies are still made but not in a big Hollywoodian scale, such as The Ten Commandments or Ben Hur. One example to a recent biblical adaptation is One Night with the King. Many themes that characterized Jewish movies in the past have not changed. Dozens of Jewish movies are released every year that deal with the memory of the holocaust. One of the most notable recent Holocaust movies is The Pianist (2002).
In the last twenty years numerous documentary movies have been made about Jewish identity and related themes. The genre has drastically progressed in the last decade. Additionally, Steven Spielberg has made a giant project documenting testimonies of Holocaust survivors.
You can see that Jewish movies dealing with resistance and revenge at Nazi war criminal have become more popular than ever. Defiance and Inglorious Bastards are two notable examples. Today, many of Holocaust movies are dealing with the experience of the third generation to the Holocaust. The Believer is a disturbing and provocative example for dealing with faith and identity post World War Two. Israel has also released a highly recommended movie , Walk on Water – a young Mossad agent is on a mission to capture a Nazi war criminal who is now sick and dying.
True, Jewish movies are not always easy to digest, but nonetheless important – they tell us the story of who we are.
Best Jewish Movies List
Anti-Semitism themed movies
A Mighty Heart
This true story is based on the biography of Mariane Pearl. Daniel Pearlman, a Jewish Wall Street journalist does not return from an interview with an Islamic fundamentalist cleric. It turns out that Daniel was kidnapped. His worried pregnant wife goes on a search for him. The movie is directed by Micheal Winterbottom, one of the most intriguing directors today. Angelina Julie does a fantastic job on the leading role as Mariane Pearl.
The Believer
This disturbing movie tells the story of a young Jewish man who leads a double life. Also recommended: though not a Jewish movie by definition and not from the last ten years, American History X [Blu-ray] is an important movie about anti-semitism and hatred.
Munich
Directed by Jewish director Steven Spielberg, Munich tells the true and tragic story of the 11 Israeli athletes who were murdered by terrorist at the Olympics at Munich, 1972.
Jewish Movies about the Holocaust: Memorial and Survival
The Pianist (2002)
The Pianist is a highly acclaimed film that won several prestigious prizes. The Pianist, starring Adrien Brody, tells the story of Jewish musician trying to survive the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto by the Nazis during World War II.
Classic Jewish Movies : Jewish Films that Made A Difference
What do we mean by Jewish movies? No, these aren’t movies inspected for Kashrut or specially made for Jewish people. Merely, the term Jewish movies refers most commonly to films that include any kind of Jewish themes or story lines depicting Jewish characters.
Throughout its history, Hollywood has always been filled with famous Jewish directors, producers and cast. The first popular Jewish film made in the 20s, The Jazz Singer, is truly a classic masterpiece centered around an aspiring Jewish singer who tries to break into the show business. Hollywood has also brought us the epic movies that reenact famous Biblical tales, like The Ten Commandments and Ben Hur.
There are more recent yet still classic examples of Jewish movies created by artists whose Jewish identity has played an important role in their film making. One of them is Barbara Streisand’s Yentl in which she portrays a young woman who dresses up as a man in order to be able to join a yeshivah and study the Torah.
Another famous Jewish film comes from the Jewish director Woody Allen who created Radio Days in 1987, a film that nostalgically examines the golden days of the radio. These movies have successfully given a voice to the Jewish way of life and gave stage to the infamous Jewish humor. They create the discourse around such prominent Jewish themes as the family and introduce to the world one of the most famous and influential Jewish archetypes, the Jewish mother.
Many Jewish movies are about the history of the Jewish people and culture. The Holocaust, the memory of the Holocaust and dealing with that memory have played a major role in the development of Jewish films. Jewish movies about the Holocaust have served as a way of dealing with the memory of the Holocaust while at the same time documenting and preserving it. The first movie made about World War Two was the political satire The Great Dictator (1940), created by Charles Chaplin. Made and released before the war was over, the film reportedly upset Hitler.
Other movies about the Holocaust that have imprinted their marks on the history of Jewish film and the movie include Shoah (1985), Claude Lanzmann’s 9 ½ hour long documentary, Sophie’s Choice starring Meryl Streep, and of course, Steven Speilberg’s Schindler’s List (1993).
The latter masterpiece which delivers the story of the Jewish experience during the Holocaust so poignantly and authentically has received a world-wide recognition reaching a wide international audience. Equally noted should be such foreign movies as Europa Europa and Life is beautiful (LaVita a Bela) who brought Roberto Benigni its Oscar in a foreign movie category.
No doubt, these movies have helped to raise international awareness and caused many people around the world to see the Holocaust as a human catastrophe that has touched every person in the world. Jewish movies dealing with the Holocaust from the last decade have also touched on the experience of the second and third generation of the Holocaust. One of the most popular themes explored is the hiding of the Nazi war criminals after the war. Music Box, starring Jessica Lang, tells the story of a young lawyer whose father is accused of war crimes.
But don’t get the wrong impression that Jewish movies are always serious and somber. There are many widely-known and loved Jewish comedies. In fact, did you know that the international hit Dirty Dancing is one of them?
