Edana
09-14-2004, 08:56 PM
The Renment via LF (http://www.libertyforum.org/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=news_philosophy&Number=292941978&t=-1#Post292941978)
by Mark Alessio
The 24th Annual San Francisco Jewish Film Festival ran from July 31-August 9, 2004. As part of its mission to present a broad, many-faceted picture of Jewish life around the world, this year the festival featured the “Im-Passioned” program, described as “a response/rebuttal to the imagery of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ and its putatively inflammatory anti-Semitic message.” This program included Bay Area filmmaker Jay Rosenblatt's short film, King of the Jews, which festival promoters describe as a “brilliant, haunting, and occasionally campy reflection on the legacy of this most potent Christian icon .... accompanied by the screen agonies of Jesus, mostly from obscure silent films.” Rosenblatt says that the film documents “his awakening to the news that Jesus Christ, the ‘Jew-killing monster’ his parents always referred to as ‘Jersey City,’ was in fact a Jew.” The 18-minute film, which was screened at the Sundance Film Festival, purports to explore “the roots of Christian anti-Semitism, examining the historical Jesus and uncovering the distortions in the early Christian gospels.”
Also featured in the “Im-Passioned” program is Howard Jacobson’s one-man show entitled Sorry, Judas. This film takes the audience “on a dizzying trip through centuries of religious and cultural hatred and misapprehension, guided by the figure of Judas Iscariot.” Festival promoters state that “Howard Jacobson wants to liberate the maligned New Testament character from his anti-Semitic baggage. In this irreverent and outrageous personal essay and performance, the noted British cultural critic and writer impersonates one of history’s most hated figures, and argues passionately to rehabilitate Judas from his condemned role as the ultimate greedy betrayer.” Decked out in an exaggeratedly hooked nose, warts, bright red hair and a purse filled with thirty pieces of silver, Jacobson delivers what one reviewer called an “acerbic, infuriatingly snide, wounded, undeniably Judeocentric performance.”
Comment: To this day, the smarmier intellectuals who can’t tolerate the brutal honesty of Gibson’s “Passion” take a certain pleasure in describing the movie as a “snuff film” and, by extension, the film’s admirers as perverts. Apparently, though, an “occasionally campy reflection” on Christ, “accompanied by the screen agonies of Jesus,” is Sundance material. Got it? Looking at a cinematic representation of the Passion with gratitude is perverse; looking at it for a few giggles is ART!
Remember the outcry that ensued when Hutton Gibson, Mel’s father, made some unpopular remarks about the “holocaust,” while his son’s film was still in production? Mel was hounded over and over in an effort to make him denounce his dad and everything the man believed in. Nothing but a public repudiation of his own father would have appeased the sharks that were out for Gibson blood. Jay Rosenblatt’s parents raised their son to regard Jesus Christ as “Jersey City, the Jew-killing monster.” But, hey, no one’s calling for any public denunciations by Jay.
“Who would dare defend Judas Iscariot,” asks the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival website. Now we know. His name is Howard Jacobson, the “noted British cultural critic and writer.” Apparently, for Jacobson, betrayal isn’t a very big deal. In fact, it’s no sin at all. Or maybe it’s no sin if the person who does the betraying is Jewish. Or maybe it’s no sin if the victim of the betrayal is Jesus of Nazareth. It’s hard to tell. This “wounded” cultural critic is desperate to “rehabilitate” Judas Iscariot. Would he be so desperate if Judas’ victim had been anyone but Jesus? Think about it. As for the sad spectacle of a Jewish man getting up on stage decked out in an exaggeratedly hooked nose, warts and clown hair...? What’s to say? My parents emigrated to the USA from Italy in the 1940’s, and they were not unfamiliar with prejudice. Yet – and you can call me crazy – it has never once occurred to me to don an organ grinder’s costume and fake mustache, and perform soliloquies in a Chico Marx faux-Italian accent.
One more thing for those of you who are keeping score. Note that Jay Rosenblatt claims that his film examines “the historical Jesus” and uncovers “the distortions in the early Christian gospels.” Note also that Howard Jacobson’s film is said to take the viewer on a trip “through centuries of religious and cultural hatred and misapprehension.” The Jewish participants involved in interreligious dialogue have been telling us that our Gospels are error-filled hate-literature, and that our Catholic legacy is one of hatred. Now, Jewish film makers are claiming to educate us about the “distortions” in the Gospels and our “religious misapprehension.” This is the new paradigm in Jewish-Christian relations, so lauded by our Catholic “shepherds.” We are supposed to ignore the Evangelists, the Church Fathers, Doctors, Saints, Popes and Councils, as well our own studies, and instead turn to great “scholars” like Jay Rosenblatt and Howard Jacobson in order to find out the truth about the "historical” Jesus and the "real" Gospels. Amazing! Do people like this ever actually listen to themselves?
by Mark Alessio
The 24th Annual San Francisco Jewish Film Festival ran from July 31-August 9, 2004. As part of its mission to present a broad, many-faceted picture of Jewish life around the world, this year the festival featured the “Im-Passioned” program, described as “a response/rebuttal to the imagery of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ and its putatively inflammatory anti-Semitic message.” This program included Bay Area filmmaker Jay Rosenblatt's short film, King of the Jews, which festival promoters describe as a “brilliant, haunting, and occasionally campy reflection on the legacy of this most potent Christian icon .... accompanied by the screen agonies of Jesus, mostly from obscure silent films.” Rosenblatt says that the film documents “his awakening to the news that Jesus Christ, the ‘Jew-killing monster’ his parents always referred to as ‘Jersey City,’ was in fact a Jew.” The 18-minute film, which was screened at the Sundance Film Festival, purports to explore “the roots of Christian anti-Semitism, examining the historical Jesus and uncovering the distortions in the early Christian gospels.”
Also featured in the “Im-Passioned” program is Howard Jacobson’s one-man show entitled Sorry, Judas. This film takes the audience “on a dizzying trip through centuries of religious and cultural hatred and misapprehension, guided by the figure of Judas Iscariot.” Festival promoters state that “Howard Jacobson wants to liberate the maligned New Testament character from his anti-Semitic baggage. In this irreverent and outrageous personal essay and performance, the noted British cultural critic and writer impersonates one of history’s most hated figures, and argues passionately to rehabilitate Judas from his condemned role as the ultimate greedy betrayer.” Decked out in an exaggeratedly hooked nose, warts, bright red hair and a purse filled with thirty pieces of silver, Jacobson delivers what one reviewer called an “acerbic, infuriatingly snide, wounded, undeniably Judeocentric performance.”
Comment: To this day, the smarmier intellectuals who can’t tolerate the brutal honesty of Gibson’s “Passion” take a certain pleasure in describing the movie as a “snuff film” and, by extension, the film’s admirers as perverts. Apparently, though, an “occasionally campy reflection” on Christ, “accompanied by the screen agonies of Jesus,” is Sundance material. Got it? Looking at a cinematic representation of the Passion with gratitude is perverse; looking at it for a few giggles is ART!
Remember the outcry that ensued when Hutton Gibson, Mel’s father, made some unpopular remarks about the “holocaust,” while his son’s film was still in production? Mel was hounded over and over in an effort to make him denounce his dad and everything the man believed in. Nothing but a public repudiation of his own father would have appeased the sharks that were out for Gibson blood. Jay Rosenblatt’s parents raised their son to regard Jesus Christ as “Jersey City, the Jew-killing monster.” But, hey, no one’s calling for any public denunciations by Jay.
“Who would dare defend Judas Iscariot,” asks the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival website. Now we know. His name is Howard Jacobson, the “noted British cultural critic and writer.” Apparently, for Jacobson, betrayal isn’t a very big deal. In fact, it’s no sin at all. Or maybe it’s no sin if the person who does the betraying is Jewish. Or maybe it’s no sin if the victim of the betrayal is Jesus of Nazareth. It’s hard to tell. This “wounded” cultural critic is desperate to “rehabilitate” Judas Iscariot. Would he be so desperate if Judas’ victim had been anyone but Jesus? Think about it. As for the sad spectacle of a Jewish man getting up on stage decked out in an exaggeratedly hooked nose, warts and clown hair...? What’s to say? My parents emigrated to the USA from Italy in the 1940’s, and they were not unfamiliar with prejudice. Yet – and you can call me crazy – it has never once occurred to me to don an organ grinder’s costume and fake mustache, and perform soliloquies in a Chico Marx faux-Italian accent.
One more thing for those of you who are keeping score. Note that Jay Rosenblatt claims that his film examines “the historical Jesus” and uncovers “the distortions in the early Christian gospels.” Note also that Howard Jacobson’s film is said to take the viewer on a trip “through centuries of religious and cultural hatred and misapprehension.” The Jewish participants involved in interreligious dialogue have been telling us that our Gospels are error-filled hate-literature, and that our Catholic legacy is one of hatred. Now, Jewish film makers are claiming to educate us about the “distortions” in the Gospels and our “religious misapprehension.” This is the new paradigm in Jewish-Christian relations, so lauded by our Catholic “shepherds.” We are supposed to ignore the Evangelists, the Church Fathers, Doctors, Saints, Popes and Councils, as well our own studies, and instead turn to great “scholars” like Jay Rosenblatt and Howard Jacobson in order to find out the truth about the "historical” Jesus and the "real" Gospels. Amazing! Do people like this ever actually listen to themselves?