My Netflix queue has been pretty spectacular recently, as I have a long list of documentaries running right now. I think I am about to largely give up on mainstream film. I haven’t seen a worthwhile big budget movie in a long time, but small indie film studios are making great films.
Now, before I tell you about the Protocols of Zion, a Marc Levin documentary, I want to make it clear this movie is a huge propaganda piece, just like Fahrenheit 9/11 or any other political documentary with spin. But, that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth a view, because it is.
Set around the events following 9/11, Protocols takes the viewer along with Levin as he tries to understand a “popular” conspiracy theory that Jews pulled off 9/11 to force attacks on the Mideast by the U.S. Now, I had never heard the theory until watching this movie, but Levin does less to debunk the theory than he does to frame the current amount of cultural tension that exists in the United States and how absolutely shocking some of these views can be. The best part of this movie, in fact, is watching Levin’s face as he reacts to extremist views.
Levin holds his own and even argues his points in situations most would do anything to avoid. Thus, the film, while pushing an agenda, does an amazing job of making you think about other perspectives. For instance, while filled with hate, the white supremacist is very organized and can argue his point. However, his point is hate and separation, but you know, he’s not spewing, he’s speaking.
Anyway, the whole movie is based on fighting the belief that Jews control the world through a secret plan called the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion. This is really interesting. The Protocols is a best-selling, highly misunderstood, antisemitic book that was created in Russia by the secret police in the early 1900s. It is nothing more than incredibly successful propaganda.
It seems hate is one of the best motivations to create successful propaganda. The Nazi’s and apparently the Russians created some of the most effective propaganda ever known to man. However, they also went too far on occasion and created propaganda that backfired. Levin uses one such film, The Eternal Jew, as an example of successful Nazi propaganda. However, The Eternal Jew went too far, comparing Jewish Germans to rats and using really horrible imagery. It was not received well. But, many films were.
This is where it gets sad. It seems to me that the Jewish population of the world has all the problems any other cultural division has, but they also have years and years of multi-million dollar, multi-media propaganda against them. That blows! That is where this film is really important. It shows the effects of propaganda in the long term… and the effects are long lasting, scary and really hard to reverse.
Just read this after visiting the Jewish Museum in Berlin. It was pretty astonishing to learn more about anti-semitism throughout history and to see the incredible influence of propoganda in this.