Protocols of Zion (film)

Infobox_Film
name = Protocols of Zion


caption = Director Levin (left) discusses the popularity of the book with (former) National Alliance leader Shaun Walker
director = Marc Levin
producer = Levin Steve Kalafer
writer =
starring = Marc and Alan Levin
music = John Zorn
cinematography = Mark Benjamin
editing = Ken Eluto
distributor = HBO Films
THINKFilm
released = January, 2005 (Sundance) October 21, 2005 (limited)
runtime = 95 min.
language = English
budget =
imdb_id = 0436686|

"The Protocols of Zion" is a 2005 documentary film by Marc Levin about a resurgence of antisemitism in the United States in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Armed with his camera and appearing on screen along with his subjects, Levin engages in a free-for-all dialogue with Arab Americans, Black nationalists, evangelists, White nationalists, Kabbalist rabbis, Holocaust survivors, and Frank Weltner, the founder of Jew Watch web site.

Levin's film draws its inspiration from an encounter he had in a New York taxi not long after 9/11, in which his driver, an Egyptian immigrant, made the claim that the Jews had been warned not to go to work at the World Trade Center on the day of the attack. He then said that "it's all written in the book," referring to "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion", a 1903 book purporting to disclose the Jews' master plan to rule the world. Discredited as a hoax by "The Times" of London in 1921, [ [http://reason.com/0002/ci.cf.forging.shtml Forging Protocols] by Charles Paul Freund. (Reason magazine) February 2000] "The Protocols" provided a crucial influence on Hitler's world views, and had fuelled hatred, violence, and ultimately genocide attempts through the first half of the twentieth century. Ads for the film show two stacks of books, visibly entitled "Protocols of Zion," with smoke billowing out of the top portion of the left-hand stack. This looks much like actual pictures of the World Trade Center as the fire raged through it.

Reactions

The film received fair to good reviews from American film critics. The most common negative criticism was that although it elicited strong emotions, the film lacked focus. [ [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/protocols_of_zion/ "Protocols of Zion."] "Rotten Tomatoes". 14 March 2007.] The film had an extremely limited theatrical release (four theaters at its widest) and grossed $178,875 domestically. [ [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=protocolsofzion.htm "Protocols of Zion (2005)."] "Box Office Mojo". 14 March 2007.]

References

ee also

*Antisemitism
*Israeli-Palestinian conflict
*New antisemitism
*Pierre-André Taguieff (interviewed in the film)

External links

*imdb title|id=0436686|title=The Protocols of Zion
* [http://www.protocolsofzionmovie.com/ Official Site]
* [http://ivorypower.com/blog/?p=916 Protocols of Zion to air on Cinemax]
* [http://anti-communist.com/blog/?p=1131 Brief review of Protocols of Zion, including a list of appeared guests]
* [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=protocolsofzion.htm Protocols of Zion (2005) on Box Office Mojo.]
* [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/protocols_of_zion/ Protocols of Zion on Rotten Tomatoes.]