I understand why some people object to this movie's equating the plight of illegal immigrants and exploited factory workers with the Shoah (the Holocaust).
The Jewish people are at this moment at greater risk than they have been since the Germans exterminated them in Europe during World War II. They are surrounded by hordes of brutal, ruthless monsters no less dedicated to their destruction than the Germans were 70 years ago.
But it's worse now, because they are effectively all alone against a force thousands of times larger than they are (billions against a few million), with NOBODY on their side, not even their former official "Protectors", the British.
During the Shoah, most civilized countries supported the Jews' right to exist (in theory, at least); but now the whole world prefers the Palestinians, whose declared aim is the total destruction of Israel. Israel's only remaining friends - the Americans - currently seem more interested in courting Israel's enemies than in insuring Israel's survival.
Anybody who says the nation Israel is not the same as the Jewish people is either criminally deluded or a liar. Israel's enemies hate it because it's Jewish. Period. If they could wipe out the Jews all over the world they'd do it gleefully, but Israel is a much more convenient target, an isolated, vulnerable surrogate for the whole.
In the light of this alarming situation, to compare France's arresting illegal immigrants to Germany's systematically murdering Jewish children is appalling. Nevertheless... I was bowled over by this movie.
It is a deceptively powerful movie - deceptive because it seems to amble so slowly and randomly toward its conclusion; powerful because it makes old news new and vitally important. Instead of cheapening the Shoah, for me it made that horror realer than I thought possible after a long lifetime of learning about it.
I DON'T think the current plight of illegal immigrants (or Palestinians, who are a particularly rapacious sort of illegal immigrant) is anything like the Jews' plight during the war, but this movie doesn't force me to accept that absurdity. It makes what was done to the Jews real, and it strengthens my commitment to Israel's survival rather than diluting it.
