Shortly after Germany conquered France in 1940, the collaborationist Vichy regime of Henri Philippe Petain announced its first antisemitic law. It relegated Jews to second-class citizenship and paved the way for their deportation to Nazi extermination camps in Poland. Two years later, the French police began rounding up Jews and sending them to internment camps, […]
Apart from its unimaginable campaign of terror and genocide against the Jews of Europe, the Nazi regime in Germany was guilty of plunder on a massive scale, stealing great and irreplaceable works of art in virtually all the countries it invaded and occupied. The Rape of Europa, a nearly two-hour-long documentary directed by Richard Berge, […]
Run Boy Run is one of six films being screened free of charge by the Chaiflicks streaming service in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27. They will be available from January 26 to January 28. Adapted from a novel by Uri Orlev, and directed by Pepe Danquart, this absorbing movie is based […]
Fabienne Rousso-Lenoir’s documentary, Cabaret-Berlin, The Wild Scene, is a nostalgic excursion into a lost world. Currently being screened online by the Toronto Jewish Film Foundation, it’s a bold and brash movie, composed of a collage of eclectic images taken from movie clips, photographs, drawings and paintings. It is narrated in theatrical style by the German […]
Curious George, the whimsical cartoon character dreamed up by the German-Jewish refugee couple Hans and Margret Rey, is an international cultural icon. An affectionate monkey of renown, Curious George has captivated the hearts and minds of children for decades now. The Reys produced seven books about this adorable creature, their last one having been published […]
Paul Wieland’s appealing coming-of-age British drama, Sixty Six, unfolds against the backdrop of the 1966 World Cup in London. By chance, the final game of this global tournament coincides with Bernie Rubens’ forthcoming bar mitzvah. And herein lies the nub of Sixty Six, which is being screened online by the Toronto Jewish Film Foundation. A […]
Sheldon Leonard was a Renaissance Man in the highly competitive business of show business, moving seamlessly between theater, radio, film and television. He appeared in Broadway plays, starred in Hollywood movies, churned out radio scripts, and produced TV sitcoms. Leonard’s contributions to middlebrow American culture are highlighted in Allan Holzman’s breezy documentary, Sheldon Leonard’s Wonderful Life, […]
The philosopher Martin Buber (1878-1965) never deviated from his belief that dialogue is an essential component of human existence. A cosmopolitan bridge builder, he devoted his life to two interrelated goals — reconciliation between people and universal peace. It is hardly coincidental that he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize seven times. Buber’s quest forms […]
Sean Baker’s bittersweet movie, Red Rocket, provides viewers with an unimpeded glimpse of flyover territory in the United States. It unfolds in Texas City, a somnolent, flyblown town in Texas hemmed in by highways and a railway track and dominated by the belching smokestacks of chemical refineries humming day and night ceaselessly. It’s an alienating […]
Klezmer, a Polish film set in Nazi-occupied Poland, exposes viewers to a harsh Darwinian world where life is nasty and brutish. Streamed by Chaiflicks, an online provider of Jewish-themed and Israeli films, Piotr Chrzan’s dark and pessimistic movie unfolds in a forest near Bialystok in the summer of 1942 or 1943. Polish Jews who have escaped […]