"Protocols of Zion": How century-old book spread lies, fear, hatred
Did you know that no Jews were killed in the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center because Jews were warned not to go to work that day?
This is a virulent lie, of course, but it spreads like crabgrass in our post-Sept. 11 world of fear and suspicion.
"Protocols of Zion," a documentary directed by Marc Levin. 93 minutes. Not rated; for mature audiences (contains profanity, brief violence, disturbing newsreel images). Northwest Film Forum. The screening at 7 p.m. Thursday will be followed by a panel discussion focusing on anti-Semitism and other issues addressed in the film.
Its origins can be found in a century-old book that was proved to be a forgery in 1921. When the secret police of czarist Russia published "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," a slim volume (still available from many major booksellers) professing to reveal a Jewish master plan to rule the world, they unleashed a monster that refuses to die. In the wake of Sept. 11, its anti-Semitic message is being accepted as fact by anyone predisposed to believe it.
New York-based filmmaker Marc Levin (best known for his 1998 poetry-in-prison drama "Slam") hadn't heard the lie until it was repeated to him by an Egyptian taxi driver. Now, in "Protocols of Zion" (playing this week at Northwest Film Forum and April 24 on Cinemax), Levin exposes the lie for what it is, drawing the maddening conclusion that the lie will continue to spread.
As a Jew who works near Ground Zero in New York, Levin made this film as a personal and ultimately futile quest for a solution to hatred. Traveling coast to coast to explore the "Protocols" phenomenon, he bemusedly seeks feedback from high-profile Jews in Hollywood (Norman Lear recommends him to Rob Reiner, and vice versa). But he finds greater and more disturbing truth in historical documents and on the streets of America, where some Arab Americans, neo-Nazi skinheads, Christian evangelicals and other groups are eager to express their hodgepodge of conflicting Jewish conspiracy theories.
The only civilized response to this display of abject ignorance, hatred and bigotry is one of anguished despair, but Levin's film enlightens as much as it enrages. Whether he's "outing" auto pioneer Henry Ford as a "Protocols" publisher or showing clips of inflammatory Egyptian and Hezbollah TV movies based on the book, it's clear that Levin's quest is never-ending and more essential than ever.
Jeff Shannon: j.sh@verizon.net