Today in the History of Antisemitism
Let us consider Vanessa Redgrave, who turns 70 today.
Those who love movies remember that she appeared in some very important ones, in particular Antonioni's "Blowup". Her last scene in that picture showed her strolling past a shop window. The crowd blocked her for a moment, and then she quite suddenly vanished.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but a few years later I (and a good many other Jews) wished to goodness she'd disappear again.
In 1977, she came to public attention due to a rather remarkable confluence of events. She got a Best Actress nomination for "Julia," in which she played an anti-Nazi activist in World War II Germany. (That movie was based on Lillian Hellman's memoirs, incidentally, and later turned out to be mostly lies.)
At the same time she produced and appeared in a documentary on the Palestinians, in which you could see her dancing around with one of their machine guns. She referred to Zionism on 60 Minutes as a "brutal, racist ideology" (which the Palestinian nationalist movement apparently is not). When she won her Oscar, as a group of Zionists protested her nomination outside, she congratulated the Academy for its refusal to be intimidated by a bunch of "Zionist hoodlums" who shamed all of world Jewry (she evidently didn't know that most Jews in the world are Zionists of one kind or another).
And in the face of all this, some dimwit decided to cast her in a television show about Fania Fenelon, a Jew and a Holocaust survivor.
What I remember most about that last incident is an interview, again on 60 Minutes, with Vanessa and Fania sitting side by side. Fania insisted, in the strongest possible terms, "Vanessa Redgrave cannot be me!" And there sat Vanessa, looking - of all things - perplexed. Apparently, she could not for the life of her comprehend how Fania, for whom she had the highest respect, could possibly object to having her life story told by an antisemitic advocate of violence against the Jews.
Right about then, her career started to go into decline. She kept making movies, some of them quite good, but she wasn't such a big deal anymore.
Well, in checking out her recent history, I find that a couple of years ago Bob Costas interviewed her on the Larry King show. He asked if, regardless of political disagreements, she accepted Israel's right to exist, and she said "Yes."
Sounds like she's had some sort of epiphany, like maybe dancing around with a PLO machine gun doesn't really inspire confidence in a woman who claims to want peace. That's an image that's mighty hard to forget.
I started this entry with the genuine intention of wishing Vanessa Redgrave well on her 70th birthday. I'd really like to be able to do that.
Benshlomo says, oh God I wish that the mistakes of the past could be erased - mine and everyone else's.
Those who love movies remember that she appeared in some very important ones, in particular Antonioni's "Blowup". Her last scene in that picture showed her strolling past a shop window. The crowd blocked her for a moment, and then she quite suddenly vanished.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but a few years later I (and a good many other Jews) wished to goodness she'd disappear again.
In 1977, she came to public attention due to a rather remarkable confluence of events. She got a Best Actress nomination for "Julia," in which she played an anti-Nazi activist in World War II Germany. (That movie was based on Lillian Hellman's memoirs, incidentally, and later turned out to be mostly lies.)
At the same time she produced and appeared in a documentary on the Palestinians, in which you could see her dancing around with one of their machine guns. She referred to Zionism on 60 Minutes as a "brutal, racist ideology" (which the Palestinian nationalist movement apparently is not). When she won her Oscar, as a group of Zionists protested her nomination outside, she congratulated the Academy for its refusal to be intimidated by a bunch of "Zionist hoodlums" who shamed all of world Jewry (she evidently didn't know that most Jews in the world are Zionists of one kind or another).
And in the face of all this, some dimwit decided to cast her in a television show about Fania Fenelon, a Jew and a Holocaust survivor.
What I remember most about that last incident is an interview, again on 60 Minutes, with Vanessa and Fania sitting side by side. Fania insisted, in the strongest possible terms, "Vanessa Redgrave cannot be me!" And there sat Vanessa, looking - of all things - perplexed. Apparently, she could not for the life of her comprehend how Fania, for whom she had the highest respect, could possibly object to having her life story told by an antisemitic advocate of violence against the Jews.
Right about then, her career started to go into decline. She kept making movies, some of them quite good, but she wasn't such a big deal anymore.
Well, in checking out her recent history, I find that a couple of years ago Bob Costas interviewed her on the Larry King show. He asked if, regardless of political disagreements, she accepted Israel's right to exist, and she said "Yes."
Sounds like she's had some sort of epiphany, like maybe dancing around with a PLO machine gun doesn't really inspire confidence in a woman who claims to want peace. That's an image that's mighty hard to forget.
I started this entry with the genuine intention of wishing Vanessa Redgrave well on her 70th birthday. I'd really like to be able to do that.
Benshlomo says, oh God I wish that the mistakes of the past could be erased - mine and everyone else's.
posted by benshlomo at 3:24 PM
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