Defamation

Israeli director Yoav Shamir has the chutzpah to unpack the delicate subject of anti-Semitism in this controversial and balanced film.

On one side of the fence, there is the very powerful Anti-Defamation League (the ADL has 27 branches in the U.S. and high-profile missions globally), headed up by Abraham Foxman. His job is to sniff out and expose anything that could be construed as anti-Semetic speech or behaviour.

On the other side is controversial author, professor and son of holocaust survivors, Norman Finkelstein. His radical theory is of an Israeli-orchestrated political red herring. Between the two are Israeli teens on a Mossad-protected school trip to Poland, devout Jews in Moscow, individuals that live in fear, and others that have no such belief.

Although beguilingly and lightly played, this intelligent film does raise very interesting and potent debates, and is bound to raise a few eyebrows.