MovieChat Forums > Gentleman's Agreement Discussion > movies on Anti-Semitism

movies on Anti-Semitism

posted 19 years ago by kodanuki
18 replies | jump to latest

I'm a teacher in a foreign country with very few Jews, and I'd like to know what movies would be useful for bringing Anti-Semitism (why it would be a problem in the first place) to students' consciousness.

I'm going to put some conditions on this request: Nothing too obscure, cameo-like (e.g. 2 minutes in a 120 minute film), nor talky (like some documentaries - Shoah comes to mind). I'm a bit wary of Holocaust films like "A Beautiful Life" (although "Schindler's List" seems to me to be more accessible), in that they can marginalize A-S into a historical aberration. In the past I've used "School Ties" which is decidedly over the top but the setting (a prep school) and the actors attract my students. I realize that this might be a straitjacketed request, but what would you recommend?

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] bronislavmeyler 19 years ago

Edward Dmytryk's Crossfire
Europa Europa
Jom Tob Azulay's "The Jew" (the film is about the inquisition in Portugal)
Luna Park
School Ties

[–] normandee 19 years ago

My personal favourite is the Diary of Anne Frank. I don't think the movies do enough justice to the book. I read this book when I was thirteen and it made such an impact upon me. Years later I went to Amsterdam just to visit her house and I was very moved. I recommend it for anyone.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] jc-scott 17 years ago

Crossfire was released around the same time as 'Gentleman's Agreement' - it's the better film. A great movie starring Rob Ryan and Robert Mitchum. I love the soapbox 'Spy from Rome' speech at the end, drawing parallels between anti-Semitism and anti-Catholicism.

"What if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today." - Groundhog Day

[–] Ron in LA 17 years ago

Gentleman's Agreement
Crossfire
The Believer

[–] Kari Hakkinen 17 years ago

Fiddler On the Roof (1971)
Blood In the Face (1991)
Citizen Cohn (1992)
Not In This Town (1997)
Focus (2001)
The Pope, the Jews And the Nazis (1995)
Il giardino dei Finzi Contini (1970)
Der Gelbe Stern (1980)

[–] nahuil 17 years ago

The mortal storm (1940) with James Stewart is very good, and it was released during the war, which makes it more interesting. Also during the war came up To be or not to be (1942), by the great Ernst Lubitsch; it is a comedy, predecessor of La vita e bella and Train of Life.
Then you have Cabaret, and the recent Fateless (which I didn't see yet). The counterfeiters (this year's winner at the Oscars in the Best Foreign Film category) is a very good film with a setting in a concentration camp.
Judgement at Nuremberg (1961) and the TV film Nuremberg (2000) are very interesting "trial" movies (the latter is NOT a remake of the previous one). Open City (Roma, Cita Aperta, 1945) by Rossellini is another excellent movie, although it is more focused on the resistance angle. Finally, another TV film, Prisoner of Honor (1991) about the Dreyfus case is a good aproach to the recent history of anti semitism.
Those are what I can remember for now. Hope it helps.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] 17 years ago

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