It's one of my favorite movies, I've watched it over twenty times and isn't only a menifest against anti-semitisme but against racism in general. One of the best scenes is at the wedding of the black bride, when Pivert's face is black because of the exhaust pipe and all the wedding guests start to congratulate Pivert because he is the father of (another) bride.
My french teacher took my grade 8 class to see this in the theatre in 1974, and I remember cringing even when I was 13. Time to check it out again, thanks!
I have a suspicion this movie arrived at the cultural moment it did for a reason. Despite France's reputation, especially in America, as the nation of "*La Resistance!*" and "*Vive le Revolution!*," France nevertheless had for a very long time (like, a **millenium**), and to some extent today still has, a deeply culturally conservative streak, which included (at least up to the time of this movie) a fair amount of old catholic antisemitism such as that shown by Pivert. No doubt you are aware of the wrongful trial and conviction of Alfred Dreyfus in the late 19th century. But what is less appreciated in the US is that there are very few nations which offered up their Jews to the Nazis more eagerly than France. The national police agency chasing "Rabbi Jacob" in the film is the very same police agency founded to police Vichy France; the duties of which included identifying and rounding up French Jews to be deported to Germany. The first head of which, Maurice Papon, was a member of the French parliament at the time of the film's release. He was not held responsible for his participation in the Holocaust until the 1980s, and was not imprisoned for it until almost the year 2000. And all of this is to say nothing for the French Government's treatment of Algerian people (most of whom were nominally French citizens) during the 1950s and 60s (thus the shout-out to Islam in the film). Suffice to say, France was working some stuff out during this time period.
Great points! There was a lot of cultural subtext in this film that I didn't appreciate as a kid. Also stay tuned for a movie review about The Dreyfus Affair.
@@noelstaar Great question, I actually do know. It's the begining of Parshat Yitro. As I'm writing this I'm thinking it might have something to do since it discusses how Moses' father in law Jethro came to visit the Israelites camp in the desert and he was not part of the nation. But I wouldn't read into that since it is the begining of the Torah portion, while the bar mitzvah boy reads a totally different portion right before.
Bro I did not know asking a question as a response to a question was a Jewish thing I thought the dude I was talking too was just old 😂😂😂 i thought he just misheard me or is just old and rambling
I've never seen this film, but I watched the video since from the title I thought I might it a children's film I saw as a child and remember only vaguely. It had a lot of slapstick comedy including rabbis on roller skates, and the main character was a rabbi (or at least a traditionally dressed Hassidic Jew). Does anyone know what this film is?
@@_yiddishkeit Hillariously showing Piver't bigotry comes from utter ignorance. Imagine being mightly suprised that a man named Solomon Schmoll is Jewish.
Yes, but even De Funès is a French stereotype, so I don't see the problem here. It actually helps the purpose of that movie, which is to promote tolerance.
