Yesterday, we told you about lefty writer Noah Berlatsky's unintentionally hilarious quibble with "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny": that the movie, like the previous entries in the blockbuster franchise, just didn't take the time to address why Nazis are so bad or even how to recognize them or really touch on the Holocaust at all. That was a really fun post to write, and we hope it was fun for you to read.
Well, friends, what we didn't realize when we read Berlatsky's silly review of "Indiana Jones" yesterday was that it was actually part of a pattern with Berlatsky when it comes to movies about Nazis directed by Steven Spielberg. While Spielberg didn't direct the new Indy movie, he did direct the first four. He also quite famously directed 1993's "Schindler's List," which was pretty clear about Nazis being bad and the Holocaust being bad. And for the occasion of the 25th anniversary of "Schindler's List," Berlatsky made it abundantly clear that Spielberg had fallen short of his historical responsibility there, too.
From Berlatsky's 2018 HuffPost piece:
But rewatching “Schindler’s List” right now, what’s most striking isn’t its relevance, but its uselessness. The movie offers platitudes rather than analysis, and reassurance rather than much-needed warnings. It’s meant to fortify us against hatred, but instead, it inadvertently explains why, despite our veneration for Holocaust narratives, we remain so vulnerable to fascism.
...
But just as a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing, so can a sentimentalized, unrigorous anti-fascism go badly awry. When fascists are presented as completely unsympathetic villains, it becomes difficult to recognize the danger of hatred in your pleasant neighbor. When victims are supposed to be passive and receptive, you’re likely to become angry when Jewish people, or black people, or trans people, point to your friends or allies, or to you, and say, this is a danger to me. Don’t do that.
Sentimentality and self-satisfaction undermine the critical skills and courage needed to oppose fascism when it comes. “Schindler’s List” isn’t solely responsible for our understanding of fascism today, or for our current politics. But it has played a part in both. Twenty-five years on, the main lesson of “Schindler’s List” is that we need to build a better anti-fascism than the one Spielberg gave us.
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"Jewish director Steven Spielberg making a movie about Nazis waging a genocidal campaign against the Jews is too good at making fascism look evil" is a hell of a take. Though it's exactly the sort of take we'd expect from Noah Berlatsky.
"But rewatching 'Schindler’s List' right now, what’s most striking isn’t its relevance, but its uselessness."
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) June 28, 2023
-Noah Berlatsky on "Schindler's List"https://t.co/ZPk2gYW6wy
Special shout-out to Jesse Singal, by the way, who, as far as we know, is the guy who deserves credit for digging up Berlatsky's "Schindler's List" brilliance. Singal was clearly having fun with this, and his amusement is contagious. There are just so many gems to be found in Berlatsky's piece!
2/ Noah was mad that in a movie about Jews being murdered as part of a genocide, there weren't scenes where the Jews explained, out loud, why this was a bad thing they disagreed with pic.twitter.com/cABJrA93wm
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) June 28, 2023
That bit made us audibly cackle for real. Berlatsky really seems to have a problem with Holocaust victims not being vocal or assertive enough about being herded into cattle cars and brought to concentration camps and being systematically exterminated.
3/ "'Schindler’s List,' then, tells its viewers that when fascism comes, they will find it easy to pick the right side, and that fascism’s targets will be ― and should be ― quiet and grateful."
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) June 28, 2023
Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii uhhhhhhhhhhhh
And as if the Jews of "Schindler's List" weren't enough of a disappointment, "Schindler's List" didn't even give antifascists a template for showing support to journalists like Jemele Hill, a true victim of fascism if we've ever seen one:
4/ Schindler's List "doesn’t model any way to show support for journalist Jemele Hill, who fell out with her network for saying that Trump is a white supremacist."
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) June 28, 2023
This is an actual line from an actual article published under someone's actual name. I am not making it up I swear. pic.twitter.com/TJPFYdLYcQ
You couldn't make that up if you tried, Jesse. Nobody could. It's pure, unadulterated Noah Berlatsky.
tremendous content https://t.co/PIwEFcx21n
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) June 28, 2023
It really is. And we're counting on there to be lots more where all that came from. So please, guys. If you find yourselves getting a bit weary of reading about Biden family corruption day in and day out (we wouldn't blame you) and you need a break, feel free to go digging through Noah Berlatsky's archives for more gold, and be sure to send it our way.
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