Emmy Award winning documentarian Marc Levin has hit the streets running with another sometimes serious but mostly outrageous documentary about the anti-Semitic propaganda pulp piece “The Protocols of Zion.” The 100 year old tome purports to describe in great and mystical detail a secret Jewish coven that has control over major sections of the world economy and, of course, wants to keep it that way. They originally controlled and supplied “alcohol and abomination” to the world and went on to control television at a later date. A natural progression in the eyes of some is a dangerous precedent in the eyes of others.
Those viewing it as dangerous are interviewed by Levin in the making of this film. In the style of Michael Moore’s epic “Bowling for Columbine” Levin poses the ridiculous questions as they are outlined in the “Protocols” and the street straight-men respond accordingly. Their answers radiate insightfulness about how the Jewish community controls everything from porn to Pepsi and is getting stronger every day. As the hidden wealth and power of the Jewish community unfolded before the audience at this reviewer’s screening, various members of the Jewish faith therein could be seen looking at their neighbors in amazement and probably preparing to ask for a short-term loan. But most of the profound revelations were met with laughter and not a little dismay that things were not so.
The film differs from “Columbine” in that political fanatics are not nearly as interesting as fanatical gun-owners. This might be because the best ones are hiding and not out roaming the streets with signs that say “Interview me Mr. Levin.” Gun worshippers are much less likely to be arrested and sent off to Git’mo or Turkey for unofficial interrogation with, say, cattle prods, and for that reason alone may be more likely to strut their stuff in the open. The large number of available gun freaks makes a huge volume of material possible, from which can be culled some funny stuff. For whatever reasons, the interviewees in this film are not very funny. Because the film relies on them it is not very funny either.
The making of the film was inspired by a story circulating through the streets of New York City about how Jews had advance knowledge of the World Trade Center attacks. This knowledge, so the story goes, allowed them to stay home from work in the WTC on the day of the attacks and thereby avoid death. Those re-telling the story justify it on the basis of the fact that the public “never heard of any Jewish funeral services” after 9-11. True enough, but then the public never heard about any Jehovah’s Witness funeral services, either. Come to think of it, we didn’t see any Baptist funerals, either. At least not down 5th Avenue where they would hold up traffic.
This premise is funny enough, but only for about fifteen minutes or so, after which the film sags lamentably. The Arian Nations representative is the high point--Levin should have interviewed more like him, with his classic comment, “I wear a tie because average people don’t expect that of skinheads.” Come to think of it, we didn’t hear of any Aryan Nations Nazi funerals after 9-11, either. Maybe they arranged it all and told their skinhead, neck-tie wearing confederates to stay away on that deadly day.
Mr. Levin has made some good TV shows in the past and he has made some good films, but this is not one of them. It takes a born comic with an instinct for the outrageous, like Michael Moore, to get normal people to act for you. Marc Levin does not do it nearly well enough to fill the requisite 90 minutes. It is hard to say whether the unflattering comparison is because gun-toters are inherently more clownish than political fanatics, or because Levin simply doesn’t work as hard as Moore. But either way this movie is going to be a tough sell in any format other than a “60 minutes” style TV show.
The film goes on a limited release in the U.S. on Friday Oct. 21.
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