Even Hollywood is more simpatico to Israel than Israel is to Israel, so far as movie making, which isn’t saying much.
Published: Friday, February 19, 2016 1:00 PM
I can’t remember the last time I saw an Arab-made movie that disparaged the Arabs. That’s because there was no first time.
If, after all, someone dared to get it done, the film surely got cut to shreds, along with the actors, producers, and the director.
This much is certain; no such film was ever made with funds provided by the government, any Arab government.
Which takes us to some place else altogether, namely Israel. Not quite Hollywood or Bollywood, but they do make movies, some good ones, but as Arutz Sheva columnist Tzvi Fishman reminds us, a lopsided number of Israeli films made by Israelis are anti-Israel.
No other country does this to itself.
No other government says to its filmmaking community, “Here’s the money. Now go make a movie that makes us look bad.”
Which appears to be how it works in Israel when the Left controls the Arts. I can’t amplify on Fishman.
He’s a rabbi who knows the screen trade very well from a highly successful career as a Hollywood scriptwriter. I’ve been a huge fan of his journalism; love his torpedo approach to the craft. Readhim. He spills the beans.
I have frequently asked if Leon Uris’s “Exodus” would get a major studio’s green light today and the answer is no.
As for me, I’ve had my Hollywood moments as an observer and as a participant and I can say that even Hollywood is more simpatico to Israel than Israel is to Israel, so far as movie making, which isn’t saying much, but it’s something. Fishman asks (my paraphrasing), When was the last time you saw a film that featured Israel in an idealized or heroic light?
Never, is what I can say. I can also say that artists who blast their own people in words or in pictures operate from a type of insanity.
To be honest, I can’t say that I have watched enough Israeli-made films to qualify as an authority. I trust Fishman.
I also trust my own instinct. When I hear about something new coming out from Israel to a theater near me, I know what’s coming. Another bashing. Another portrayal of Jews as the heavies. This is so 95 percent of the time, or so it seems. I did enjoy the Talmudic father/son drama “Footnotes.”
But is there a DeMille anywhere in the house to think in epic proportions? I ask this about Israel and Hollywood. Imagine a movie that presents the heroes of the Hebrew Bible as true to the Hebrew Bible. Imagine a movie that presents the glory of modern-day Israel in war and peace.
Frankly I can’t. Not today. I have frequently asked if Leon Uris’s “Exodus” would get a major studio’s green light today and the answer is no.
Neither would DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments” stand a chance. For all its flaws, the movie did make it clear that the subject was Moses and the Hebrews.
Not so when, years ago, ABC-TV decided DeMille (or even G-d) wasn’t good enough, so the network produced its new and improved version – only there was no mention of Moses or the Hebrews. All that was ethnically cleansed out so that we heard that someone, a “leader” was bringing his “people” to some place. End of story.
Whitewashing, when not bashing, appears to be the trend to write Jews out of the past and the present, Israel (the Left) and Hollywood equally to blame.
ABC-TV is back at it again. This time the network is planning a program on King David, as part of its
“Gods and Prophets” series.
Oy vey is all I can say about that!
On the topic in general, I hear you say – come on, it’s only a movie. Well, movies, big and small, can make a difference.
All movies are propaganda…even if they simply change how we dress, the slang we use, the people we separate from heroes to villains.
People think this way when Israel is shown in all its glory, and people think that way when Israel is portrayed darkly. The influence is undeniable.
Particularly so when documentaries are on tap.
PBS did a “Frontline” overview of terrorism. You are thinking Islamic terrorism, right? No, it was about “the settlers.” The two-hour program searched for Jewish terrorists and found none except one, a man who tried some funny business but failed; he failed as a terrorist and he failed as a neighbor. No Israeli wanted anything to do with him.
But the program aired. All Israel was tainted and painted with one brush over a single individual. Meanwhile, on PBS Islamic terrorism does not exist.
How many viewers were influenced by this? I say plenty. If we say the news media is largely responsible for much of the anti-Semitism sweeping the world, well, film, this too is a medium, equally influential and similarly dangerous when shared with millions from the wrong hands.
In the right hands, like Pierre Rehov’s “Silent Exodus” we learn the true story about the million-plus Jews evicted from their homes in Arab lands.
Rehov, a French-Israeli, is a valiant battle-tested documentarian. He’s made a number of one-the-spot documentaries frequently from behind enemy lines. But raising the money has been a tough sell for a “right wing” point of view. Somehow he has managed to get it done, and done so very well.
From others – where are you? Where’s the movie about the gutsy reinvigorated nation that could?
Against all odds! What a story!
In Israel, and often in America, the money and the laurels go to the Zionist scoffers and the moral equivalency boys.
That is a pity – and particularly in Israel, there is something wrong with this plot.
If, after all, someone dared to get it done, the film surely got cut to shreds, along with the actors, producers, and the director.
This much is certain; no such film was ever made with funds provided by the government, any Arab government.
Which takes us to some place else altogether, namely Israel. Not quite Hollywood or Bollywood, but they do make movies, some good ones, but as Arutz Sheva columnist Tzvi Fishman reminds us, a lopsided number of Israeli films made by Israelis are anti-Israel.
No other country does this to itself.
No other government says to its filmmaking community, “Here’s the money. Now go make a movie that makes us look bad.”
Which appears to be how it works in Israel when the Left controls the Arts. I can’t amplify on Fishman.
He’s a rabbi who knows the screen trade very well from a highly successful career as a Hollywood scriptwriter. I’ve been a huge fan of his journalism; love his torpedo approach to the craft. Readhim. He spills the beans.
I have frequently asked if Leon Uris’s “Exodus” would get a major studio’s green light today and the answer is no.
As for me, I’ve had my Hollywood moments as an observer and as a participant and I can say that even Hollywood is more simpatico to Israel than Israel is to Israel, so far as movie making, which isn’t saying much, but it’s something. Fishman asks (my paraphrasing), When was the last time you saw a film that featured Israel in an idealized or heroic light?Never, is what I can say. I can also say that artists who blast their own people in words or in pictures operate from a type of insanity.
To be honest, I can’t say that I have watched enough Israeli-made films to qualify as an authority. I trust Fishman.
I also trust my own instinct. When I hear about something new coming out from Israel to a theater near me, I know what’s coming. Another bashing. Another portrayal of Jews as the heavies. This is so 95 percent of the time, or so it seems. I did enjoy the Talmudic father/son drama “Footnotes.”
But is there a DeMille anywhere in the house to think in epic proportions? I ask this about Israel and Hollywood. Imagine a movie that presents the heroes of the Hebrew Bible as true to the Hebrew Bible. Imagine a movie that presents the glory of modern-day Israel in war and peace.
Frankly I can’t. Not today. I have frequently asked if Leon Uris’s “Exodus” would get a major studio’s green light today and the answer is no.
Neither would DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments” stand a chance. For all its flaws, the movie did make it clear that the subject was Moses and the Hebrews.
Not so when, years ago, ABC-TV decided DeMille (or even G-d) wasn’t good enough, so the network produced its new and improved version – only there was no mention of Moses or the Hebrews. All that was ethnically cleansed out so that we heard that someone, a “leader” was bringing his “people” to some place. End of story.
Whitewashing, when not bashing, appears to be the trend to write Jews out of the past and the present, Israel (the Left) and Hollywood equally to blame.
ABC-TV is back at it again. This time the network is planning a program on King David, as part of its
“Gods and Prophets” series.
Oy vey is all I can say about that!
On the topic in general, I hear you say – come on, it’s only a movie. Well, movies, big and small, can make a difference.
All movies are propaganda…even if they simply change how we dress, the slang we use, the people we separate from heroes to villains.
People think this way when Israel is shown in all its glory, and people think that way when Israel is portrayed darkly. The influence is undeniable.
Particularly so when documentaries are on tap.
PBS did a “Frontline” overview of terrorism. You are thinking Islamic terrorism, right? No, it was about “the settlers.” The two-hour program searched for Jewish terrorists and found none except one, a man who tried some funny business but failed; he failed as a terrorist and he failed as a neighbor. No Israeli wanted anything to do with him.
But the program aired. All Israel was tainted and painted with one brush over a single individual. Meanwhile, on PBS Islamic terrorism does not exist.
How many viewers were influenced by this? I say plenty. If we say the news media is largely responsible for much of the anti-Semitism sweeping the world, well, film, this too is a medium, equally influential and similarly dangerous when shared with millions from the wrong hands.
In the right hands, like Pierre Rehov’s “Silent Exodus” we learn the true story about the million-plus Jews evicted from their homes in Arab lands.
Rehov, a French-Israeli, is a valiant battle-tested documentarian. He’s made a number of one-the-spot documentaries frequently from behind enemy lines. But raising the money has been a tough sell for a “right wing” point of view. Somehow he has managed to get it done, and done so very well.
From others – where are you? Where’s the movie about the gutsy reinvigorated nation that could?
Against all odds! What a story!
In Israel, and often in America, the money and the laurels go to the Zionist scoffers and the moral equivalency boys.
That is a pity – and particularly in Israel, there is something wrong with this plot.
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