Canadian Jamie Kastner is often asked if he is Jewish and the question often annoys him as he doesn't understand why it should matter whether he is or not. Inspired by the Gregory Peck film Gentleman's Agreement (in which he pretends to be Jewish in order to explore anti-Semitism), Kastner sets out across the world to explore anti-Semantism himself. His journey takes him to Brooklyn (where he is embraced as a Jew and given his Bar Mitzvah), the US (where he meets politician Pat Buchanan), London (where anti-Semitic attacks are on the rise), Paris (where he starts a fight on the subject) and of course heads to Auschwitz.
Regardless of whether he is Jewish or not, Kastner's film exploring anti-Semitism manages to be clever and yet crass, sensitive and yet overly sarcastic, intelligent yet simplistic and accordingly the final film is a very mixed bag and I'm not entirely sure how I ended up taking it. Kastner approaches the subject with a blundering insensitivity that I found to be quite crass and at times it makes for very weak segments. The best example of this is the interview with Pat Buchanan that really goes nowhere and ends once the politician realises that Kastner has one thing on his agenda and won't stop till he gets a sound bite that backs it up ("you're looking for answers that you're not getting") but yet Kastner still tries to make his exit into some sort of persecution.
Conversely though his simple questions manage to start a fight between some random people on the street by talking about Jews. This moment exposes the problem but sadly he fails to deliver this in the same way when he goes to London and forces a Taxi driver to say what makes him think he is Jewish the obvious answer of course being "because you're making a film on the subject and you're asking me about Jewish people, not the fact you have curly hair although that is clearly what you are looking for me to say". His sarcasm over Auschwitz is misplaced yes it is weird that it is a tourist attraction but not as wrong and weird as Kastner suggests with his strong (but yet emotionally cold) reaction.
What he does achieve though is sort of sending out the message that Jews are getting a hard time, although maybe not that hard a time. The contributions are limited and it is only one or two of them that lets Kastner make his point well the rest of them will win you over if you are already with him but otherwise they fall flat. A mixed film then, that doesn't seem to have the structure that it needs. Interesting and amusing stuff, but only to a point the majority of the film didn't really do a lot for me.
Regardless of whether he is Jewish or not, Kastner's film exploring anti-Semitism manages to be clever and yet crass, sensitive and yet overly sarcastic, intelligent yet simplistic and accordingly the final film is a very mixed bag and I'm not entirely sure how I ended up taking it. Kastner approaches the subject with a blundering insensitivity that I found to be quite crass and at times it makes for very weak segments. The best example of this is the interview with Pat Buchanan that really goes nowhere and ends once the politician realises that Kastner has one thing on his agenda and won't stop till he gets a sound bite that backs it up ("you're looking for answers that you're not getting") but yet Kastner still tries to make his exit into some sort of persecution.
Conversely though his simple questions manage to start a fight between some random people on the street by talking about Jews. This moment exposes the problem but sadly he fails to deliver this in the same way when he goes to London and forces a Taxi driver to say what makes him think he is Jewish the obvious answer of course being "because you're making a film on the subject and you're asking me about Jewish people, not the fact you have curly hair although that is clearly what you are looking for me to say". His sarcasm over Auschwitz is misplaced yes it is weird that it is a tourist attraction but not as wrong and weird as Kastner suggests with his strong (but yet emotionally cold) reaction.
What he does achieve though is sort of sending out the message that Jews are getting a hard time, although maybe not that hard a time. The contributions are limited and it is only one or two of them that lets Kastner make his point well the rest of them will win you over if you are already with him but otherwise they fall flat. A mixed film then, that doesn't seem to have the structure that it needs. Interesting and amusing stuff, but only to a point the majority of the film didn't really do a lot for me.
