MovieChat Forums > The Life of Emile Zola (1937) Discussion > Anti-semitism is what made the Drefuss a...

Anti-semitism is what made the Drefuss affair!


At least from what little history I can recall.

The review above the message board on the main page for this film (at the time of this post) says that the film completely sidesteps the fact of Dreyfuss' Judaism, although there was an outpouring of public anti-semitism in that time, and most of the vitriol hurled at Dreyfuss in the press and on the street was shaped largely by an anti-semitic mindset and frame of reference.

I haven't seen the film but would like to once I can get a copy through my inter-library loan, although the glossing over of what I addressed above is gonna make it hard to take seriously. However, Muni is a great actor and it won Best Picture (but so did Crash and Argo, so that distinction isn't so great anymore, not that it really ever was - 'How Green Was My Valley' beat 'Citizen Kane').

Thanks to anyone who comments.

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The word is never uttered, though it appears on paper, once.

The thing was, most of the movie studios were owned by Jews, but they were making movies for and about Christians. If they wanted to keep that role and keep movies successful, they needed to avoid hitting too hard on that particular topic.

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On the 3rd planet.
There IS no 3rd planet!
Don't you think I know that?

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I think it's about tailoring the actual story to fit audiences' prejudices, many of whom at the time had probably been readers of The Dearborn Independent and loyal listeners of Charles Coughlin.

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Will We ever learn the truth though? Whenever something happens to a Jew it's anti-Semitism, a Black, Racism, A Woman, because She's a Woman. I think anything can be distorted to make a certain group look like a victim. When I watched This I got the feeling the Higher Ranking Officers used the lower ranking Dreyfuss as the fall guy, because He was virtually powerless to defend Himself. As far as the vitriol of the People on the streets toward Dreyfuss, They were only going by what was being fed to Them from the Press. That still happens Today, the Press and Media will pick out a Person to scorn, and slander, brainwash the public into turning against This Person, especially if there is another Person Who the powerful Media chooses to sympathize with, and make Them a Victim. But, I felt sorry for Dreyfuss, went to Prison, and was confused about what He had done.

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The Dreyfus affair led to the disestablishment of the Catholic Church in France in 1905. The following year Georges Clemenceau, the publisher of J'accuse, became Prime Minister, and his minister of war was General Georges Picquart, the army officer who as Colonel had tried to exonerate Dreyfus. Emile Zola was martyred, Dreyfus rehabilitated and honored, and the other two good guys took over the government. As stories in history go this was one of the happier endings.

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What was Esterhazy, you know the man who was the real traitor? Was he a foreigner, or a jew?

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A foreigner, he was Hungarian.

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