The Nazi occupation of most of Europe during World War II and the Holocaust tested the moral fiber not only of the individual citizen but also of entire nations.
Al Jazeera television said on Tuesday it would not broadcast video footage of three deadly shootings in southern France filmed by an al Qaeda-inspired gunman using a camera strapped to his body.
Baya Benmahmoud, the heroine of the French film “The Names of Love,” gives new meaning to the concept of political activism. A fervent, if rather naïve, left-winger whose guiding motto is, “Make love, not war,” her mission is to convert right-wing politicians to the correct ideology by sleeping with them. “I am a political whore,” she announces proudly when she meets Arthur Martin, a 40-ish, uptight ornithologist, who rambles on about bird diseases when Baya inquires whether they should make love at his or her place.
The Holocaust documentary \”Shoah\” is being broadcast in Iran. The 1985 documentary by French director Claude Lanzmann was scheduled to be presented this week on a satellite channel and is dubbed in Farsi. Satellites are banned in Iran, but many Iranians have them and therefore could watch the film, which includes survivor testimony.
\”Le Grand Role\” has laughter, pathos, in-jokes, heartburn, self-caricature — in other words, it\’s a really, really Jewish film, even though the characters insist on speaking French.
Simone Bitton, a French filmmaker who has made seven other documentaries about the histories and cultures of the Middle East and North Africa, considers herself an \”Arab Jew.\”
Sacha Baron Cohen, better known as the star of the eponymous \”Da Ali G Show,\” is in Hollywood preparing for his headliner turn in an upcoming movie with the felicitous title \”Dinner for Schmucks.\”\n\nIn the role, Cohen/Ali will portray a — well — schmuck, with the gift of ruining the life of anyone who spends a few minutes in his company.\n\nThe film is a remake of Francis Veber\’s 1998 French comedy hit \”Le Diner de Cons\” (The Idiot Game), which introduces a French publisher who hosts a weekly dinner for his friends.\n\n
The highly controversial French documentary film, \”Terrorists in Retirement,\” offers a striking revelation that, on reflection, should come as no surprise at all — Eastern European Jews played a prominent role in the most daring exploits of the World War II French resistance movement. This truth comes as a jolt only because French popular myth and official histories have so thoroughly suppressed it, considering it harmful to the nation\’s heritage to admit that stateless immigrants, facing deportation and almost certain death, fought harder for France\’s freedom than did many citizens who were content to collaborate with their German conquerors.
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