Last Tuesday a pack full of luckies got to see a sneak peek of a documentary called “Protocols of Zion” in the stupefying new Center for Film Studies. “Protocols” rocked Sundance in January, where it was picked up by the always-savvy ThinkFilm (“Spellbound,” “Born into Brothels”). It does not open in the US until the autumn. How did Wesleyan come to be privileged by this event? The Film Department, in conjunction with the Jewish Studies Department, scored a delicious coup. The director Mark Levin (“Slam,” “Whiteboyz”), a Wesleyan alumnus and current Wesleyan parent, brought his hot property here for a viewing and discussion because he is a good man and he loves us.
“Protocols” is the director’s presentation of what is still a vital constituent of the seamy underbelly of American, and world, culture: anti-Semitism. Levin, a Jewish New Yorker, was compelled to begin his personal odyssey into the heart of hatred by a taxi ride he took in the wake of 9/11. Levin got a conversation going with the driver, an intelligent, young Arab man who was looking to make it in hip-hop. The chatter led to the topic of 9/11, and the driver matter-of-factly stated that no Jews were killed in 9/11. Furthermore, he believed that 9/11 was a conspiracy orchestrated by the Jews, carefully planned out a century ago, and the proof is in a book called “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” The driver’s seamless mix of intelligence and ignorance struck Levin and provided the impetus for his research into the validity of the driver’s statements. “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” was an elaborate hoax concocted by the Tsarist Secret Police in Russia in 1912. “The Protocols” details a sinister plan for the Jews to take over the world. The ‘discovery’ of the manuscript was meant to stir up anti-Semitic sentiment. “Protocols” later became a cornerstone of Nazi ideology, and Henry Ford ensured that every vehicle his company sold came along with a copy of “Protocols.” Thoroughly debunked a million times over, the lie refuses to die. “Protocols” is a hot-seller on the streets of New York and the world over. It is even stocked at Wal-Mart. Soap operas in Egypt and other countries use it as a known and accepted story framework and causal motivator in their plots centering Jewish “rats,” devilish schemesters who have no qualms about killing women and children en route to world domination.
Levin’s research turned up that the taxi driver’s assertion that Jews were systematically ordered to stay home on 9/11 is held by more than just fringe lunatics. Some newspapers, in Germany and Turkey for example, reported this event as fact. Levin’s, and the audience’s, shock of discovery (though this is true for fewer people than I care to think), propels the film’s multi-vocal dialogue with Holocaust survivors, Holocaust deniers, Arab and Jewish fundamentalists, Black nationalists, Palestinian Americans, white supremacists, protestors, cantors, priests and just regular schmoes on the street; people along the spectrum of the anti-Semitism issue.
“Protocols” is a rare confluence of engaging, challenging, relevant, incendiary, uplifting, downlifting, provocative, humorous and human qualities; it would be a travesty if a wide audience, of “Fahrenheit” proportions, did not experience it. Even though I am a Jewish New York stater, I do not think I am overstating the importance of this film. These are core issues (e.g. anti-Zionist invective as veiled anti-Semitism and why there is such a need for a book like “Protocols” to latch on to), and there is far more to this film than a hack jokester like me can do justice to, but is absolutely crucial to the existence of any earthling.
The film is flawed. Levin’s conscious injection of the personal, his own grappling with ideology and his relationship to his father, instead of putting a human face on these issues just feels half-baked against the backdrop of questions like, “Who killed Jesus?” and, “What is the proper handling of the Israel-Palestine conflict?” Also, the film’s structure is a tad desultory. The ordering of the argument is somewhat arbitrary and its impressionistic flow, partially due to the usage of quotes from “Protocols” as an ordering device; still, this does not detract from the film’s potency.
The film’s strongest selling point is that what could have been an oppressive downer is made far more appealing by a liberal sprinkling of humor (one guy shouts sincerely “33 cents of every Pepsi purchase goes to Israel” and “I did not vote for Rudolph ‘Jewliani.’”). Still, this is not just fringe-lunatics who hate Jews, and not the dithering dolts of Michael Moore films; it is a viable, often intelligent and informed (though not with the right information) part of our population.
(This will be my last film review: I’m movin’ on up to Film Series previews. Don’t fret though: I may come back and visit some time. Kissies to my loyal readership, and I’m just so glad that we could grow up together this past year and a half.)
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