Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Absolutely Fantastic

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

The UN voting record is the most disturbing proof that antisemitism is alive and faring well. Therefore the bottom line of this movie is pretty simple: The director went to the wrong places to find any antisemitism. He just meets simple ignorance. And antisemitism goes much beyond common people naiveness.Anyway, the movie is quite fun to watch (the Israeli accent is fun) and, even if it just scratches the surface of the issue, it raises some good questions about how to educate new generations about the Shoah (the holocaust) and more generally how should Jews view and identify themselves. It was the french philosopher Jean Paul Sartre who said that Jewish identity was somehow defined by antisemitism. It is true that the creation of Israel has a lot to do with antisemitism, and obviously it plays a big role in Jewish identity. But if being a Jew is reduced to this, then, as an interviewee said in the movie, "we're never going to be a normal people".But this is the most complex quest. The everlasting feeling of persecution must, at some point, end. Or else it will turn into and unjustified need of vengeance (as seen in the talks of one of the girls in the movie). But, as Elie Wiesel said, "Only the guilty are guilty. Their children are not.". Nevertheless "Never forget" is the most important teaching, not only for Jews, but for everyone. And this plays a critical role in, for instance, the Iranian atomic bomb issue.

my daughter and I just watched this movie today on cable, without the benefit of any context. while it was clear that the filmmaker sided with the Mearsheimer-Walt types, I still thought it was worth watching.to me, any time Norman Finkelstein is allowed to go on camera and give his noxious views, that's a good thing. in fact, the whole movie affirmed the idea that "anti-Zionism" is just an excuse for anti-Semitism. I think this is the opposite of what the filmmaker wanted to prove, but there it is.if you do see this film, please remember to take it with a grain of salt. example: Finkelstein says that there is no American anti-Semitism but there IS anti-Muslim feeling. according to FBI statistics, anti-Jewish hate crimes occur 8 TIMES AS OFTEN as anti-Muslim crimes. but Finkelstein doesn't back up his assertions with facts, since he wouldn't be able to.the problem of anti-Semitism has been with us for thousands of years, and it isn't going away any time soon. this movie contributes to the conversation if watched with an open but skeptical mind.

So, Yoav Shamir wants to get to the bottom of anti-semitism. Does he go undercover with the KKK or the neo-Nazis? No. Does he examine Turkish TV dramas that promote the Blood Libel? No. Does he take undercover video of Friday night sermons in Palestinian mosques? Nope. Or examine Palestine school books or any of the Saudi funded programs in mosques all over the world? No. Or the speeches by Hamas and Hizbullah about killing Jews (not "Israelis", but "Jews")? No. Does he discuss the United Nations, which has passed more resolutions against Israeli than on any other topic, including genocide in Darfur, genocide in Tibet, mass murders in Congo, oppression of Christians and Hindus in Pakistan? No, no, no. And he is totally silent about Iran which (a) wants to "erase" Israel from the map and (b) is busily building atomic bombs with which to get the job done.Instead, our brave Yoav looks for anti-semitism in New York City, the cultural capital of Israel's only friend on earth and a city that holds more Jews than any city outside Israel itself; he looks for it among a group of Israeli teenagers on excursion to Auschwitz; and he examines his own grandmother for anti-semitism.Why do you think Yoav did not find anti-semitism?Another reviewer thinks "Defamation" is "Moore-esqe", i.e., that it has the qualities of a Michael Moore documentary. He sure got that right.

Thought this movie did a good job a laying out some basic issues surrounding questions of anti-Semitism, support and criticism of Israel, and the role of the pro-Israel lobby in the U.S.The movie benefited from the personal reflections of the director on the movie's subject, but on the other hand I often felt the movie relied too much on colorful depictions of individuals and groups and too little on a more "objective" and data-based examination of the question of whether and how much actual (and not just imagined) anti-Semitism results in harm to people around the world.A longer, more carefully researched film could probably have matched the depictions offered in this film with data about and the testimony of people who have been the brunt of truly injurious anti-Semitic prejudice.That said, I do feel the attitudes and beliefs illustrated by the individuals and groups depicted in this film are--as the film suggests--probably very often more at the root of concern about anti-Semitism than any real incidence of the latter.But, still, that's a very sweeping generalization and would need to be "documented"--something this documentary doesn't seem to do a great deal of.However, this was a very interesting and colorful film about a number of issues central to Jewish identity (especially the identity of "secular" Jews), and could be very valuable in sparking sharper thought and discussion about those issues. And also in encouraging more research on the actual extent, or lack thereof, of anti-Semitism around the world.