Maven's Jewish Essentials
The Essential movies that helped define the identity of a generation of American Jews, a sub-set of:
Maven's Jewish & Israeli Jewels for popular movies, Maven's Jewish & Israeli Documentaries, Animated Jewish & Bible Stories and Select Jewish-Israeli non-English Movies
Maven's Jewish & Israeli Jewels for popular movies, Maven's Jewish & Israeli Documentaries, Animated Jewish & Bible Stories and Select Jewish-Israeli non-English Movies
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28 titles
- DirectorCecil B. DeMilleStarsCharlton HestonYul BrynnerAnne BaxterMoses, raised as a prince of Egypt in the Pharaoh's household, learns of his true heritage as a Hebrew and his divine mission as the deliverer of his people from slavery.
- DirectorClaude LanzmannStarsSimon SrebnikMichael PodchlebnikMotke ZaïdlClaude Lanzmann's epic documentary recounts the story of the Holocaust through interviews with witnesses - perpetrators as well as survivors.
- DirectorNorman JewisonStarsTopolNorma CraneLeonard FreyIn pre-revolutionary Russia, a Jewish peasant with traditional values contends with marrying off three of his daughters with modern romantic ideals while growing anti-Semitic sentiment threatens his village.
- StarsTim Pigott-SmithKing HusseinShimon PeresDecision-makers from Israel, the Arab states, Russia and the US tell the inside story of the Arab-Israel conflict. Charts the evolution of tensions, violence and peace efforts from 1948 to 1998.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsLiam NeesonRalph FiennesBen KingsleyIn German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.
- StarsLiev SchreiberCarl ReinerSid CaesarAcclaimed filmmaker David Grubin traces 350 years of Jewish American history, from the arrival of the first Jews in 1654 up to the present day. THE JEWISH AMERICANS tells the story of the struggle of a tiny minority to make their way into the American mainstream while, at the same time, maintaining a sense of their own identity as Jews. Focusing on the tension between identity and assimilation, THE JEWISH AMERICANS is a quintessentially American story, which other minority groups will find surprisingly familiar.
- DirectorOtto PremingerStarsPaul NewmanEva Marie SaintRalph RichardsonThe State of Israel is created in 1948, resulting in war with its Arab neighbors.
- StarsAbba Eban
- DirectorBrenda ChapmanSteve HicknerSimon WellsStarsVal KilmerRalph FiennesMichelle PfeifferEgyptian Prince Moses learns of his identity as a Hebrew and his destiny to become the chosen deliverer of his people.
- DirectorElia KazanStarsGregory PeckDorothy McGuireJohn GarfieldA reporter pretends to be Jewish in order to cover a story on anti-Semitism, and personally discovers the true depths of bigotry and hatred.
- DirectorMelville ShavelsonStarsKirk DouglasJohn WayneFrank SinatraIn 1947, following the U.N. decision to split British Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states, a former U.S. Army officer is recruited by the Jews to reorganize the Haganah.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsMillie PerkinsShelley WintersJoseph SchildkrautDuring World War II, a teenage Jewish girl named Anne Frank and her family are forced into hiding in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsAdrien BrodyThomas KretschmannFrank FinlayDuring WWII, acclaimed Polish musician Wladyslaw faces various struggles as he loses contact with his family. As the situation worsens, he hides in the ruins of Warsaw in order to survive.
- DirectorKevin MacdonaldStarsMichael DouglasAnkie SpitzerJamal Al GasheyThe Palestinian terrorist group Black September holds Israeli athletes hostage at the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Munich.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsEric BanaDaniel CraigMarie-Josée CrozeAfter the Black September capture and massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics, five men are chosen to eliminate the people responsible for that fateful day.
- DirectorStephen DaldryStarsKate WinsletRalph FiennesBruno GanzPost-WWII Germany: Nearly a decade after his affair with an older woman came to a mysterious end, law student Michael Berg re-encounters his former lover as she defends herself in a war-crime trial.
- DirectorIlan ZivStarsYaron LondonJohn TarzwellLevi EshkolThe shooting lasted on six tense days in June 1967, but the Six Day War has never really ended. Every crisis that has ripped through this region in the ensuing decades stems from those six fateful days. On its 40th anniversary, the region remains trapped in conflict and is every bit as explosive as it was in 1967. "Six Days" chronicles the events of forty years ago with a fresh historical perspective. Beginning with the buildup for the war, and the political and military maneuvering of Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol and Egyptian President Jame Adel Nasser, the film takes us through the six days of fighting, the war with Jordan, the occupation of the West Bank and the annexation of Jerusalem. Featuring stunning archival footage and first-hand accounts of the war from both the Israeli and Arab soldiers who fought it, "Six Days" explores how these events became the flash point in history that reshaped the regional political landscape, destroyed old systems and brought new forces to the surface. Rarely in modern times has so short and localized a conflict had such profound global consequences.
- DirectorIrvin KershnerStarsPeter FinchCharles BronsonYaphet KottoTrue story of a daring Israeli commando assault on the Entebbe Airport in Uganda to free hostages of a terrorist hijacking.
- DirectorAlan GibsonStarsIngrid BergmanNed BeattyFranklin CoverThe story of the Russian-born, Wisconsin-raised woman who rose to become Israel's prime minister in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
- DirectorRoberto BenigniStarsRoberto BenigniNicoletta BraschiGiorgio CantariniWhen an open-minded Jewish waiter and his son become victims of the Holocaust, he uses a perfect mixture of will, humor and imagination to protect his son from the dangers around their camp.
- DirectorAviva KempnerStarsReeve BrennerHank GreenbergWalter MatthauThe life and career of Hank Greenberg, the first major Jewish baseball star in the Major Leagues.
- DirectorDonna DeitchStarsKirsten DunstBrittany MurphyPaul FreemanA 16-year-old American girl with an apathetic view towards her Jewish family history finds herself pulled through time into 1941 to a small Polish village where the Nazis have just begun their genocidal propaganda.
- DirectorAmram NowakStarsRobert BlumenfeldGordon GrinbergAvi HoffmanComprehensive two-part PBS series that tells the fascinating true story of 250 years of Jewish immigration in America.
- DirectorDaniel AnkerStarsGene HackmanNorma BarzmanJack BennyThe history of Hollywood's handling of the Nazis and its later depiction of the Holocaust they perpetrated.
- StarsLinda HuntSamuel WestGert HeidenreichThe history of the Final Solution phase of the Nazi Holocaust, particularly with the most infamous of the death camps.
- StarsJoseph BottomsTovah FeldshuhRosemary HarrisThe saga of a Jewish family's struggle to survive the horror of Nazi Germany's systematic marginalization and extermination of their community.
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsBrad PittDiane KrugerEli RothIn Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a plan to assassinate Nazi leaders by a group of Jewish U.S. soldiers coincides with a theatre owner's vengeful plans for the same.
- DirectorMark HermanStarsAsa ButterfieldDavid ThewlisRupert FriendThrough the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences.