The Jazz Singer(1927)
The theme of a second-generation American son (Al Jolson) breaking away from a first-generation Orthodox immigrant father who wants him to continue the family tradition by becoming a cantor is still poignant, despite the heavy-handed silent screen-style acting.
Body and Soul (1947)
Star and producer John Garfield fought hard to make this film about a Jewish boxer who fights his way out of the ghetto. Jewish studio heads fought equally hard to remove explicit references to Jewishness. Garfield won out by funding the film with his own money.
The Graduate (1967)
Mike Nichols (a German Jewish immigrant) went against advice in choosing Dustin Hoffman for the role of Benjamin Braddock, the young, alienated, nervous outsider playing opposite Anne Bancroft as Mrs. Robinson. Most people don't know the screenplay was based on a novel about a WASP family in southern California.
Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
You can argue about the closeness or lack thereof to the original Sholom Aleichem stories, but such a positive (if nostalgic) portrayal of Jewish life in the shtetl made these themes "universal" and honored the original.
Borat(2006)
Some people might not consider this a "Jewish" film, but I do. Sacha Baron Cohen and his co-conspirator Larry Charles have perfected the comedy of provocation, and this kind of comedy has a long Jewish lineage.
Bernard Timberg has written about media for Television Quarterly.
Kathryn Bernheimer
The Chosen (1981)
Based on the novel of the same name, this film touches on every major theme of 20th-century Jewish life: the Holocaust, the founding of Israel, assimilation, the transmission of values within families and the challenge of maintaining traditions. It also explores conflicts within Judaism itself, deepening our understanding of modern Jewish life.
Enemies: A Love Story (1989)
This remarkable retelling of the novel by Isaac Bashevis Singer about a Holocaust survivor and the women in his life renders aspects of the Jewish experience with compassion and a respect for the complexities of the post-Holocaust human psyche.
Everything Is Illuminated (2005)
This film surprised me by being better than the book. It is heartening when a film makes a serious effort to deal with Jewish identity, in this case the complicated emotional journey one young man takes to come to terms with his family's past.
Unsettled (2006)
This documentary turns its lens on the Gaza disengagement. Adam Hostnick, a young American director, shows all sides of a highly polarized issue.
Paper Clips (2004)
In this documentary, students in Tennessee collected one paper clip for each person exterminated during the Holocaust. Although it's not about Jewish people (a few Holocaust survivors make short appearances), it's of huge interest to both Jewish and general audiences.
Kathryn Bernheimer is the author of The 50 Greatest Jewish Movies: A Critic's Ranking of the Very Best.
This article was first posted at Moment Magazine, a Patheos Partner, and is reprinted with permission.
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