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Reviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
PROTOCOLS OF ZION
As the title suggests, the heart of this documentary revolves
around the 100-year-old book The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,
written in Czarist Russia around the end of the 19th century to
incite anti-Semitism. It is a fictional account of the minutes read at a
meeting of the Elders of Zion, a Jewish cabal intent on taking over the
world. The work not only succeeded in its purpose, but went on to serve as
fuel for Hitler's justification of the Holocaust.
Levin's documentary explores the lingering obsession with this conspiracy
theory, and becomes a telling account of a surprising and appalling amount
of anti-Semitism that still exists today - even in New York City. Those who
still swear by The Protocols blame the Jews for September 11th, as
well as for most of the world's problems. Supposedly, the Elders created
vices such as the media and entertainment industry to distract the rest of
the world from the Jews' quest for world domination. It's "a lie that won't
die," Levin shows us, and in doing so, leads us to the obvious question:
why? As a Palestinian newspaper publisher in NYC claims, "It's because
they're jealous." He had published The Protocols in his
newspaper following the attacks of 9/11, but claims he had added a disclaimer at the end of
the article declaring The Protocols was indeed a fictional account
and should not be read as the truth. He accounts for the general anti-Semitic
notions as envy of the power and influence of Jews in the modern
world.
With intermittent audio clips from the book, Levin satirizes the global
spread and glorification of such an absurd fabrication, and reveals the
ignorance of those who still follow it through uncensored interviews with Americans of all races and
creeds promoting
their most far-fetched ideologies and sentiments.
Levin’s visit to the home of a neo-Nazi provides some rather entertaining material. (The skinhead
claims Jews run the media, and thus, Rupert Murdoch is, in fact, Jewish. He also denies
that Hitler had any Jewish blood or that he committed suicide). Despite such
simultaneously laughable and disheartening scenes, which include clips of an
Egyptian TV mini-series of The Protocols, we are not left hopeless after Levin's
film. Not everyone here harbors hate, and Levin himself remains entirely open-minded, often
disputing his interviewees, but never undermining their opinions altogether - he lets them speak for themselves.
Levin is certainly unafraid of confrontation, but does so tactfully. Parisa Vaziri
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