|
|
27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Execellent docu-drama of a true story, August 29, 2001
"Skokie" is the true story of how a community of Holocaust survivors and their neighbors in Skokie, Illinois stood up to a group of Neo-Nazis who wanted to hold a rally in their town. This watershed event is to Jewish-American history what the Selma March is to African-American history: a major turning point in the ongoing struggle of a minority to stand up for its dignity and rights. And yet, relatively few people recognize the name "Skokie" in the same way that they do "Selma." Which is one reason I show this video in Social Studies classes.
The film is well-balanced in the way that it presents the issues from all sides. On the one hand, the Nazis claim their First Amendment right to free speech. On the other hand, making that speech in a community of Jews who suffered under Hitler is provocative and cruel. The Jewish "establishment" recommends "quarantine" -- ignoring the Nazis to avoid giving them more publcity. The Holocaust survivors, on the other hand, point out that silence allowed Hitler to take over Germany, and they are not going to be silent again now. They urge public protest.
Danny Kaye's character is on the protester side. He describes an incident in the concentration camp where his mouth was stuffed with rags so he could not cry out. He refuses to be silent now and becomes an outspoken activist leader. His wife, on the other hand, is so emotionally traumatized by the memories that this controversy is re-awakening that she retreats to her room, listening to music and trying to block out the flashbacks. And their teenage daughter? She learns for the first time what her parents went through in the camps, and how her grandmother was brutally murdered by the Nazis. Up until this time, her parents has not talked about it, because they felt that a child should not have to grow up with such things. (Historically, it is true that, up until the Skokie events, many Holocaust survivors in America did not discuss the camps with their children. Many children of Holocaust survivors didn't even know their parents were in the camps -- yet they wondered why they had no aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc.)
The legal side of the controversy is also well covered, with public meetings in the synagogue, private meetings in the Mayor's office, and courtroom scenes where the First Amendment is tested against testimony by the survivors about what seeing a swastika means to them. (These courtroom scenes also serve to give the viewers some background information about the Jews and the Nazis without getting preachy.) As the controversy heats up, Skokie becomes a focus of national attention, attracting protesters from around the country and giving the Mayor a big headache. Do the Nazis get a permit to hold their rally or not? I won't be a spoiler -- watch the film for yourself!
On the technical end, the film is rated PG with no bad language (except when the Nazis use racial slurs), making it appropriate for use in schools. However, it's 121 minutes long, which means it takes up two class periods (or more, depending on how long your classes are.) The action moves along well, however, and the students stay interested. The last part is a sort of trailer where each of the main characters does a short interview-type monolog about what he or she got out of the events. In the end, the viewer is left to decide for him/herself whether hate speech should be protected speech.
|
DVD ~ Danny Kaye
DVD ~ Danny Kaye
![The Secret Life of Walter Mitty [Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/519ZFC82KNL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Danny Kaye
DVD ~ Danny Kaye
on 
