You People a New Netflix Rom-Com: Is It As Anti-Semitic As They Say?

 

You People a New Netflix Rom-Com
Is It As Anti-Semitic As They Say?

 

Netflix advertises its 2023 release You People as a romantic comedy. The film depicts a romance between a Jewish man and a black woman. It has been accused of anti-Semitism. By one measure – the number of times You People disseminates disparaging images of, or dialogue about Jews – You People is more anti-Semitic than the 1935 Nazi propaganda film, Triumph of the Will. And Triumph of the Will is of unquestionably superior aesthetic quality. You People's star, co-screenwriter, and co-producer Jonah Hill, born Jonah Hill Feldstein, identifies as Jewish. He is even a bar mitzvah. And he made a worse, and more anti-Semitic movie than Triumph of the Will.

Prophet 2022: A New Film Depicts One Man Standing Against Soviet Communism

 

Prophet 2022
A New Film Depicts One Man Standing Against Soviet Communism

 

Now here's an opening scene you will not see any time soon in a mainstream American film. First, darkness and silence. Next, the creak of a rusted metal door crashing open. A sliver of dirty light sighs across a filthy floor. Amidst what might be stains of blood, urine or feces on this concrete floor is the emaciated body of a naked man. His flesh, the floor, the light, all are sepia-toned, as if in a time-yellowed painting by an old master. This is not a crucifixion portrait; the man is horizontal on the bare floor, not vertical on a cross, but clearly, he is being martyred. The man's head rises from his arm, which he had been using as a pillow. He gasps for air. He blinks. He has been in darkness so long that light, a gift of which he has apparently been deprived for a long time, is more than he can take. He shields his eyes. He looks down.

 

Two thugs drag the naked form down a dark hall. In the distance, there are muffled screams. The naked man's flaccid form is handcuffed to a wooden slab. A bucket of cold water splashes over him. Another man, this one faux jolly and wearing an ostentatious coat with wide, shearling lapels, greets his victim. The smiling interrogator in the pimp coat asks for information. The handcuffed man says nothing. The interrogator tells the two thugs, "Manicure." A thug turns to a table well-stocked with tools. A door closes. Wrenching screams.

 

The man receiving the "manicure" is Antoni Baraniak (portrayed here by actor Artur Krajewski.) Baraniak was a Polish, Catholic bishop. His torturers were communists.

The Escape Artist. The Unforgettable, Cinematic Life of Rudolf Vrba

 

The Escape Artist
The Unforgettable, Cinematic Life of Rudolf Vrba

 

The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World by Jonathan Freedland was published by Harper in 2022. It is 376 pages and it includes twelve pages of black-and-white photographs and maps, as well as an index, end notes, and a bibliography.

 

In The Escape Artist, Jonathan Freedland, a British journalist, tells the story of Rudolf Vrba (1924-2006), who, the book claims, was "the first Jew ever known to break out of Auschwitz and make his way to freedom – one of only four who pulled off that near-impossible feat."

 

The Escape Artist is one of the very best books I've ever read on any topic, and I recommend it without reservation to any reader with a high school or above reading level. The subject matter is, of course, important, but in lesser hands Vrba's tale would be an overwhelmingly agonizing read. Freedland's masterful skill performs the minor miracle of crafting a graphic record of the Holocaust that is also a page-turner. Freedland pulls no punches. He informs the reader of the exact nature of the hell the Nazis operated. But Freedland moves quickly, and brings the reader with him on a breathtaking ride. In any case, only a portion of the book takes place in Auschwitz. The rest records Vrba's childhood, his heroic efforts to alert the world to the Nazi genocide of Jews, and his final days in Canada and the United States.

Tyre Nichols and the Problem of Evil

Tyre Nichols skateboarding / Source NPR 

Tyre Nichols and the Problem of Evil

When I was sixteen, I committed an evil deed. The victim was an innocent girl who not only had never harmed me, she had gone out of her way to be nice to me. When my evil deed reached the ears of Mr. H, the vice principal, he was flabbergasted. "Why did you do this?" He didn't know me, but he had enough intel to know that "You are normally a shy and quiet girl who has never given any of your teachers a moment's trouble."