Given the opportunity, I would shoot Hitler in the face.
That’s why, when I saw “Inglorious Basterds” for the first time, I sat in my chair near the end of the movie laughing and high-fiving the person next to me as Donny Donewitz, the Bear Jew, pummeled the Fuhrer right in the Charlie Chaplin mustache with a machine gun. It was matchless Schadenfreude: the Jews were kicking some Nazi tuchus.
I walked out of the theater feeling morally unambiguous: the movie’s combination of stark cinematography, humor and violence perpetrated by entertaining characters was vintage Tarantino and it all resulted in a compelling revenge fantasy. I was raised to hate Nazis and mourn the six million, and after growing up on a diet of Schindler’s List and the Pianist when every day seemed like Holocaust Remembrance Day I relished the opportunity to see Members of the Tribe giving the Reich the old one-two.
So I didn’t mind watching Jews toting artillery, killing their enemies and torturing survivors. This was, after all, the Holocaust. These were the Nazis and they had it coming. If anything, the potential controversy of the movie concerned its fictionalization of the Final Solution and World War II narrative, something that could offend hundreds of survivors and veterans.
I expected that issue to be central when I went to the Jewish Theological Seminary Wednesday night to observe a panel on the significance of “Basterds.” The panel–which included “Basterds” producer Lawrence Bender, JTS Chancellor Arnold Eisen, Professor Amy Kalmanofsky and Rabbi Jack Moline–addressed that issue along with how it relates to other examples of revenge in Jewish history, but what gripped me was the assertion–by a few of the panelists–that the movie shifted our Jewish mindset from one of victimhood to one of power. In other words, we used to work in Oskar Schindler’s factory; now we kill his SS security forces. Rabbi Moline linked that empowerment to the rise of Zionism but did not go so far as to say that the State of Israel–and the Israeli Defense Forces–obviates our obsession with being the martyr.
The idea that “Inglorious Basterds” has finally given us poor, pitiful Jews some strength is absurd. After decades of having a state with the most powerful army in the Middle East, and after over 40 years when we’ve held a population of over two million under military occupation, the last thing Jews need is someone telling us to rise up and take arms, that we’re too quiet and could use a little more violence and aggression. If anything, what Jews need right now is a reminder that we’re not omnipotent, that our religion bases itself on compassion and love, not on destroying our enemies and taking revenge. Last week a group of Jews reportedly burned down a mosque as payback for what they saw as the Israeli government’s traitorous settlement policy. Given that the Nazis burned down our synagogues seventy years ago, we should take heed and be more cautious with our glorification of violence.
There is no problem, after such extensive documentation of and emphasis on the Holocaust, with fictionalizing the story to send a message. Nor would I have hesitated, had I been an Inglorious Basterd, to stuff the Nazi elite full of bullets. Telling stories about killing Nazis is fine, but let’s pay attention to the messages we send.
