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13 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :- A promising, yet disappointing film, 16 July 2006 Author: jtolleson from United States
This documentary has a promising start: a report on the current day use of the discredited anti-Semitic fraud, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion." Levin is at his best when he's covering how this silly false text is still being cited by anti-Semitic political activists, white supremacists, and the like. Actually, he could have spent even more time describing the theories regarding the document's source and history.Unfortunately, he loses focus. After giving his main topic too abbreviated a treatment, he takes a scattershot approach which is ultimately a superficial analysis of 20th and 21st century anti-Semitism and the politics of Israel. Covering the issues of anti-Semitism and Roman Catholicism (and more pointedly, anti-Semiticism in the "Passion of the Christ") for example, could have been its own documentary. Instead, it is just a misplaced digression in this movie. Next, a presentation of anti-Semitism among Arab-Americans and Palestian-Americans, their motives and their views, takes up about 30 minutes of film.In reality, each of these major themes: the current role of the Protocols in anti-Semitics politics, the tension between the Christian church and Judaism dating back to the Crucifixion, and the Arab-Israali conflict could take up its own proper treatment via documentary. Levin does each a disservice by trying to cover all in one modest film.
21 out of 31 people found the following comment useful :- Zionists! Yikes!, 8 October 2005 Author: Spuzzlightyear from Vancouver
Protocols Of Zion is a bit of a fun documentary that sort of dives into the subject of anti-semitism, by covering the strange popularity of The Protocols of Elders Of Zion and how people took what was in that book as complete fact. The filmmaker, Marc Levin, takes us on a trip around North America (but mostly around New York) and talks to a wide range of folk, from Skinheads to Sikh leaders to yes, Rob Reiner, to try to get down to the Zion mystery, on the way he finds out that people make up the weirdest things about the Jews. Did you know they were pre-warned about September 11th? That they run Hollywood? These and other fallacies are explored, but rather lightly I found, nothing really extreme here.
16 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :- Interesting and entertaining, if a bit rambling, 12 November 2005 Author: ink-stained from United States
The Protocols was obviously a very personal project for Levin, his chance to get at the eternal question: why always the Jews? It was inspired by a single conversation the filmmaker had with an Arab cabdriver who was convinced that Israel was behind the 9-11 attacks. How did the cab driver know this? Because he had read it in the book "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion."The century-old book purports to be the minutes of a secret meeting of Jewish leaders in which they lay out their plans for world domination. In fact, it's a fraud; most of the book was plagiarized from earlier works of fiction. Mainstream western society declared it out-of-bounds over 80 years ago. Yet as Levin documents the book remains remarkably popular both on the fringes of American society and throughout the Arab and Muslim worlds.Levin tries to get to the bottom of this by interviewing neo-Nazis, Palestinians, radical black activists, conspiracy theorists, Christian evangelical leaders and various Jews. The most fascinating and disturbing bits are clips from Arab TV shows which dramatize the Protocols as if they were historical fact. He never quite gets to the bottom of it -- he's not exactly the most probing of interviewers -- but the results are never less than fascinating. He deserves enormous credit for his bravery in talking to many of these people as well as his willingness to explore the "don't go there" areas of Jewish conspiracy myths. Watch it with some friends then go to a coffee shop and have a good discussion.
9 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :- starts with a central point, but loses it somewhere, 17 July 2006 Author: selfishbastid from United States
First of all, it's a very interesting theory. Jews being warned about 9/11, a plan for global domination, etc. However, it doesn't stay focused on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, it becomes a window into anti-Semetic sentiments in the U.S. on a whole. For this reason I think it should have a different title, because it's misleading. A loose theme pervades the film by stretching out the different protocols as the filmmaker encounters different opinions on Jews in general. There are very passionate views expressed throughout, some pro-Jew and some not. What makes it compelling viewing is that so many people want to believe that Jews are responsible for the evil in the world, when in fact they have been on both sides of the equation from the beginning of time. Yes, there are many Jews who have prospered in America and throughout Europe, but at what cost? Why are the perceptions of Jews so extreme? Why do all the Palestinians in the movie come across so angry and full of venom towards Jews? Why do so many Jews hate the government, or current administration, if in fact they are so powerful within it? These are all topics I wanted to see more of. So, to summarize, Protocols isn't a bad film by any means, however I found the title to be misleading.
6 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :- Well-intentioned, but missed the mark, 25 July 2006 Author: JackSparrow92 from Canada
An interesting and engaging subject matter, and one that deserves discussion and attention. However, I found Levin's presentation to be meandering and unfocused. The film was entitled "The Protocols of Zion" but devoted relatively little time to the eponymous text -- more of a survey of anti-Semitic attitudes in contemporary America. Which is itself a worthwhile subject of course, but it seemed that Levin started off trying to make a documentary on one subject, and instead ended up with a documentary on a related, but different, subject. It seemed as though he would occasionally remember what the title of the film was and throw in another of the "Protocols".A well-intentioned film on an important subject, which unfortunately missed the mark. I'd be very interested to see a documentary that actually discussed the Protocols of Zion in depth.
13 out of 22 people found the following comment useful :- Great documentary, a bit scattered., 22 October 2005 Author: egarner-1 from United States
I felt like the movie was not so specifically about the Protocols, or about anti-Semitism specifically after 9/11. It was, in my opinion, a brief overview of the history of anti-semitism, and a defense of the 'other side.' He touched upon Arab anti-semitism, the whole white power movement, and African-American anti-semitism (albeit briefly). There were two things that struck me - one was that this man interviewed dozens of people who he knew hated him simply because of who he was - and he kept going back for more. The other was a memory - a year and a half ago I walked through Majdanek and Auschwitz, and was overwhelmed by the feeling of death and the pile of ashes. I am continually amazed by the ease with which seemingly decent people become full of such illogical, passionate hate for something they do not know or understand.
18 out of 32 people found the following comment useful :- Interesting Topic, Interesting Film, 3 October 2005 Author: selectorshalom from Brooklyn
This film does a pretty good job dealing with the age old conspiracy theory of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion". The film does a good job of showing how, once again, in times of trouble the Jews are blamed as the masterminds of some evil plot to control the world. "The Protocols" were originally used by the Czars of Russia to incite violence against Jews, then of course Hitler used them, and today once again they are being used by Terrorists to spread lies against the Jews. A very heavy moment in the film is when the white power skinhead shows the empty shelf where he can not keep the protocols in stock because they are selling so fast. My favorite part of the film, however, was the music . . . original soundtrack by John Zorn in the vein of "Massada" and special appearance by Chasidic Rapper Matisyahu!
5 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :- Could have been much better., 25 December 2006 Author: Dhaval Vyas (vogolsong@yahoo.com) from Dallastown, Pennsylvania, United States
'The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion' is one of the most famous underground books available all across the world. Although the book has been proved to be a forgery many times, there are still a considerable amount of people who believe what is written in the book. In brief, the book tells of a secret meeting between a group of Jews who plan to take over the world by controlling the banks and media. I have not read the book, but this is what I've heard what the book is about. This documentary is about a Jewish filmmaker who goes all around New York City and the United States and asks all kind of people about their thoughts about Jews and the book.This film had the potential to be a really great documentary, but Marc Levin does not go deep enough. Although certain moments of the film are really funny, Levin is too brief or sloppy. He is open-minded and fair though. He interviews all kinds of people; white supremacists, African-Americans, American Palestinians, Jews, and many others. He does shatter some myths about the Jews and the book, but other parts are just brushed over without any kind of clarity. I must commend him, though, for tackling some controversial issues and talking to people who are not afraid to express their extremist views.
7 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :- Chilling look at mankind at its worst, 9 August 2006 Author: FabD1 from France
The movie uses the Protocolos of Zion as a pretext to take a 'fresh' look at current Jewish hatred and at its historical roots. The whole tone is not apologetic; I mean, the movie will probably fail to convince any antisemitic person that hating Jews is stupid and wrong. If the movie convinces of anything, it is that antisemitism is currently much more intense and widespread than most people who live in Western societies/countries would like to believe. Put simply, I feel that any decent and/or not too stupid nor brainwashed human being can only be shocked, first by the content of most of the interviews presented in the movie, second by the global world picture which emerges from the impeccable articulation of this material by the film makers. If you take it seriously, this movie is about humanity at its very worst. In some sense, it reminded me of the visit I undertook to a concentration camp a few years ago. You get disturbed, not only because you see innocent people being accused, molested and sometimes even killed, but also because those who hate Jews are human, just like you, and this means that somehow, somewhere, you are also capable of the same sort of horrible feelings and actions.I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone, with the possible exception of children. May we all one day understand that we are all the same.P.S.: One caveat: The zone 1 American DVD is extremely poor: it is widescreen alright, but it is not anamorphic and the transfer is possibly the poorest I have seen in the five years. The supplements are quite interesting, though.
1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :- Very interesting and thought-provoking though it does lose its focus at times, 11 August 2008 Author: planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida
This is a very good documentary and I am glad I watched it. However, I tend to agree with some of the comments that they wish the film had maintained a tighter focus on the actual "Protocols of Zion"--especially since there is no way I would spend a nickel to buy this sick book and I wanted to know more about it. Instead, starting with the Protocols, the author then diverges to a wide variety of interesting but related subjects. Sometimes, though, the theme seemed to get a tiny bit lost--though it sure was interesting. His interviews with nice Christians who loved THE PASSION OF THE Christ, for example, was very interesting but also a bit off topic as was the interview with some seemingly reasonable Muslims at their temple later in the film. Perhaps instead of naming the film after the Protocols, the true theme was finding common ground among different faiths--which definitely was evident in the film.What I really liked about the documentary was Mr. Levin's lovely style. He seemed like a really nice guy and talked with many nice as well as hateful people yet always came off as sincere and decent--which takes a lot of skill. It could have easily chosen ridicule or sarcasm to deal with some genuinely dumb or evil people but didn't take this easy way out in discussing the topic. This style was very similar to the great style of Louis Theroux in his documentary on the hateful Fred Phelps clan--showing concern and a desire to understand and inform--not attack or demean. This does NOT mean he didn't state his own views or go on the attack, but he did not attack the individuals he interviewed but instead stated his own strong feelings towards the end.
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