I can’t helpt thinking that the heroism of two– exagerated or properly portrayed– should have waited its film portayal so that people do not associate what the Nazis did in the Warsaw Ghetto with what Israel is doing in Gaza. Historical analogy is a two edged sword and often unfair to both sides of the analogy; especially when dramaticized as a movie, it gets confused with hasbara. A Holywoodian version of history can be like a fire cracker held in hand too long, creating more controversy than making points. But as one who was raised by my parents’ friends– Jewish survivors of a double Holocaust, Hitler’s and Stalin’s– all through my own refuge Westward, I think more to the point is how the incredible faith in God and goodness survived in my Jewish mentors. To their deaths in Israel, all protested Israel’s lebensraum policies when they crush innocent Palestinians with an “Iron Wall” to make room for non-existent immigrants. They could not accept doing onto others as was done onto them– but Holywood will never make a film about their exemplary lives of hope. I also fear that many will not see this film because they feel propaganda expoitation of the Holocaust is a sacrilege. Zionism can be outrageously racist, as when the rabbi at the funeral of Dr. Goldstein (who shot up the Jerusalem Mosque) said that one Jewish fingernail is worth a thousand Arab lives. Nevertheless, that to this day Jews continue to be pillars of Western culture is beyond dispute. I hope we can keep the Holocaust and Zionism as separate issues, especially given how little Zionists cared for the plight of the Jews fleeing the Holocaust (Tom Segev THE SEVENTH MILLION).

AND STILL, NOT AS HASBARA, BUT AS A REMINDER OF HOW CRUEL MAN CAN BE TO MAN, I CELEBRATE THIS FILM FOR REMINDING US HOW MUCH WE RETARD OUR PLANET’S SURVIVAL BLOWING IT UP, POLUTING IT AND CUTTING EACHOTHER’S THROATS. THERE IS A POINT WHERE THIS MOVIE CELEBRATES HUMANITY AND HOPE; AND FOR THAT I SALUTE IT.