Protocols of Zion (film)

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Protocols of Zion

Director Levin (left) discusses the popularity of the book with (former) National Alliance leader Shaun Walker
Directed by Marc Levin
Produced by Levin
Steve Kalafer
Starring Marc and Alan Levin
Music by John Zorn
Cinematography Mark Benjamin
Editing by Ken Eluto
Distributed by HBO Films
THINKFilm
Release date(s) January, 2005 (Sundance)
October 21, 2005 (limited)
Running time 95 min.
Language English
IMDb profile
For the original book published in 1903, see The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

The Protocols of Zion is a 2005 documentary film by Marc Levin about a resurgence of anti-Semitism in the United States in the wake of 9-11. 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 [1], 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.

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, Christian evangelists, White nationalists, Kabbalist rabbis, Holocaust survivors, and Frank Weltner, the founder of Jew Watch web site.

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: for a whle, smoke poured from one tower only; then from both; eventually, each tower collapsed suddenly, one at a time.

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[edit] Reactions

The film received fair to good reviews by American film critics. The most common negative criticism was that although it elicited strong emotions, the film lacked focus.[2] The film had an extremely limited theatrical release (4 theaters at its widest) and grossed $178,875 domestically.[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Forging Protocols by Charles Paul Freund. (Reason magazine) February 2000
  2. ^ "Protocols of Zion." Rotten Tomatoes. 14 March 2007.
  3. ^ "Protocols of Zion (2005)." Box Office Mojo. 14 March 2007.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links