TCM Honors The Jewish Experience In January

While antisemitism is at its highest levels in recent years, TCM is taking a trip down memory lane in its Jewish Experience programming.

I’ve reviewed a few of these films already and also have links where applicable. I’m going to try and write some additional reviews but with my January schedule being what it is, I’m not sure how many other reviews will be appearing on the site. There’s nothing like starting out January with a number of films that touch on antisemitism, whether its European or American. In a perfect universe, Crossfire would not be included because its source material was about homophobia. But with the Hayes Code being what it was, they opted to focus on racism and antisemitism instead. At a time when the Jewish studio moguls didn’t want the non-Jewish Darryl F. Zanuck making a film on antisemitism, RKO’s Dore Schary went full speed ahead.

Please keep in mind that the TCM schedule is also Ashkenazi-centric in focus. Hollywood as a whole needs to look beyond what they think a Jew looks like. Obviously, it’s one thing for biopics but the industry has a whole needs to do better when it comes to representation for Sephardi, Mizrahi, and other Jews of color. Indie films are certainly doing something to change this–most recently, Tahara–but it’s not having the impact that it needs to have on mainstream storytelling. Because of the way that Hollywood tells Jewish stories, they tend to ignore Black Jews. Black Jews do exist and more often than not, they are questioned about their Judaism and this is inexcusable. There is no room for racism within the Jewish community!

What follows below is the TCM schedule for Thursday night/early Friday morning programming for Thursdays in January.