#neoNazis #movies
"How I learned to laugh at neo-Nazis
‘One Battle After Another’ was a refreshing satire of white nationalism in a world of didactic lectures
I write about a lot of Jewish movies and TV across a big range — shows that examine different valences of Jewish identity, like *Long Story Short*, or that explore Hasidic life, like *Shtisel*. But there’s one common genre that ticks me off: the dire warning.
This is a common form of Jewishly inflected media that crosses my desk. Maybe it’s a Holocaust movie or TV show. Maybe it’s about modern antisemitism. Maybe it’s about neo-Nazis. But the intent of all of them is clear, namely, to warn the public about the rise of extremist ideology. 'We should all be very worried!' they scream at the audiences. 'Nazis are everywhere!'
In *Nuremberg*, characters observe, in serious tones, that even seemingly normal people can be capable of great evil. Americans, they say, should watch out lest the German hatred arrive on their shores. In shows like *A Little Light*, about Miep Gies’ heroism in hiding* the Frank family, the obvious message is about how everyday people must step up to fight evil Nazis. It’s all painfully heavy-handed.
I agree: We should learn from history, and we should be on alert for rising antisemitism. But this message also gets old. We grow numb to it. If the most effective way to prevent the return of fascism or Nazism was simply telling people 'Nazi bad!' then there would never be any issue.
That’s why I was so fascinated when I finally watched *One Battle After Another*, after it won best picture at the Golden Globes and got a slew of Oscar nominations. Much of the movie is in fact a satire of Christian nationalism and its connection to Nazi ideology. And that satirical lens gives it a sharper, and more compelling, take than most of the movies on that topic I’ve covered."
https://forward.com/culture/799866/how-i-learned-to-laugh-at-neo-nazis/