Jewish filmmaker Marc Levin ('Brooklyn Babylon, 'Whiteboys') takes an in-your-face look at why so many people believe in the so-called 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion,' despite overwhelming evidence that the writings (purportedly, minutes from a 19th-century secret meeting where a Jewish organization plotted world domination) are an elaborate hoax. The 'Protocols' saw resurgence after Sept. 11, when a conspiracy theory developed in the Arab world that thousands of Jews had not gone to work that day. Then in 2003, a 30-part Syrian TV series detailed the "history of Zionism" according to the 'Protocols.' Troubled by this, Levin takes to the streets to uncover what different groups really think about Jews and the 'Protocols.' Like Michael Moore, Levin inserts himself into the documentary and visits everyone from an Arab-American newspaper editor who excerpted the 'Protocols' to the head of the National Alliance (a white-supremacist organization headquartered in West Virginia) to Palestinian youths to an interracial group of prison inmates. In one bit, Levin naively attempts to interview Jewish Hollywood producers (Larry David, Rob Reiner and Norman Lear) on the eve of the 'Passion of the Christ' release. Unsurprisingly, each passed. No overarching problems are solved or questions answered, but Levin's doc does an admirable -- and eye-opening -- job of reminding all of us that hatred and ignorance are alive and kicking right here in America.

Unforgettable Scene There's a horrific moment when Levin watches the video footage of kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl's execution at the hands of Muslim Pakistani extremists. Thankfully, you don't see the actual beheading, but watching Levin's reaction is gut-wrenching.
Auteur Testimonial "To wake up and realize we were in the Middle Ages, where religious warfare, tribal warfare, are a force. I didn't know how to make sense of it. So my way was engaging, just on the street, in talking to people to try to get my bearings again. I don't believe in the ignorance of the street," Levin told The New York Times.
Production Note Levin decided to shoot the doc after a post-Sept. 11 cab ride, when his Egyptian cabdriver told him 4,000 Jews were warned about the attacks. He went on to say it had been written about 100 years ago in 'The Protocols of Zion.'
Why You Should See It If you think anti-Semitism is a thing of the past, Levin makes you wake up and smell the Jew-baiting. And it's not just white supremacists and Muslim jihadists who spread the hate -- it's also regular Americans. Levin exposes that underbelly of deep-seated discrimination.